Advanced theater class to present dinner theater/murder mystery

The audience sees it happen--a murder before their eyes. But, who did it? The Copperas Cove High School Theatre Department will be presenting a dinner theatre/murder mystery, Dinner at Eight, Dead by Nine by Michael Druce on Saturday evening, Oct. 24th at 5 p.m. in the Lea Ledger Auditorium. In the one-act play comedy performed by the CCHS productions class, the local theatre guild along with audience gathers to honor Eleanor Van Heusen for twenty years of meritorious service to the theatre community by hosting a mystery dinner presentation in her name. But before the show even begins, the guest of honor falls face first into her spaghetti and is dead. This character wasn’t loved by all and in fact, all the guests at the main table - and even the chef - have reasons of their own to kill her. They all reveal their motives and murder plans, but all claim innocence. Facts support their stories, so it’s left to the audience to deduce who the real killer is. When revealed, the answer seems obvious, but no one is likely to guess it correctly. Houston Smith, who plays the role of Nick, has acted in several CCHS productions, but has never participated in a Dinner Theatre. “I am looking forward to the audience interaction that you don’t get from a normal play,” he said. The productions class is an upper lever theatre class offered to juniors and seniors who have been active in the theatre department throughout their high school careers. Along with some participation, the audience can expect to be surprised and entertained, CCISD Theater Department Chairman Molli Mayberry said. “The CCHS theatre students have been working hard on this production since the first six weeks of school and are looking forward to performing for the community.” Laura Purvis, the stage manager for the show, has also acted in several production, but has never worked behind the scenes. “This is my first time as stage manager and before this show, I never truly realized how much work it takes to be a stage manager,” she said. “In all of my years of theatre, I’ve never actually done a dinner theatre before, so it was a bit weird but also exciting to integrate and entertain an audience who is going to be both eating and watching our show.” The performance will include the show as well as a spaghetti dinner. Tickets are $10 each and will be sold at the door. Proceeds for Saturday’s performance will benefit the CCHS Drama Dawgs Booster Club. Entrance into Saturday’s show will be free with a donation of pet food, toys, leashes, blankets, and other pet items are for the local animal shelters.