Looking for a good theater show?
You might try Alibis, put on by Park High Theater Nov. 6 through the 8th.
Park High Theater will bring a murder mystery told through a collection of wildly different stories to the stage Nov. 6-8 with its production of Alibis, a comedy that challenges its cast and crew to move rapidly between characters, settings and theatrical styles.
Conceived as separate stories centered around the murder of eccentric billionaire J. Leslie Arlington, Alibis follows a group of suspects who are questioned about the crime, but each have something to hide as well. The drama that plays out as a series of miniature plays, with each suspect's alibi presented as a flashback in a different genre.
“Alibis is a play that’s split into like eight mini plays, and it’s a comedy and murder mystery,” Rosalynn Emms (Detective Casey Neptune) said recently. “There are these different suspects, and they refuse to give their alibis because they’re each hiding something.”
Although the individual stories can stand on their own, Emms explained that they combine to form one larger production. Different authors wrote the suspect scenes, allowing directors to select which segments to include.
“It’s one big project with all these different segments,” she said.
Park High Theater's production moves through an assortment of familiar styles. Student director Zella Suchner said the selected scenes include takes on a sitcom, soap opera, gangster story, heist, a James Bond-style adventure, film noir and a Bonnie and Clyde-inspired story.
The different alibis are tied together by scenes resembling a police procedural. Suspects are called in and questioned about where they were, and their answers lead into the flashbacks that make up the individual stories.
Suchner said the show's unusual structure has also made it enjoyable to direct because cast members have an opportunity to approach a variety of roles.
“This is a very fun show to direct because some people who are swings play like five different characters,” she said. “It’s fun to see how they interpret each of their characters.”
The swing performers appear in several of the alibis, often in smaller roles. That means an actor can finish one scene, leave the stage, change costumes and prepare an entirely different character before returning.
That variety extends behind the scenes as well.
Stage manager Jacob Engelstad said the technical design reflects the show's constantly changing settings. Instead of relying on a single permanent set, the production uses a number of smaller sets that can be moved on and off the stage.
“This show has a lot of mini sets, so nothing permanent that will stay on the stage,” Engelstad said. “Stuff will just move in and out based on the scene, and then we’ll have different lighting for different scenes based on the genre that it’s in.”
Costumes face a similar challenge.
“With costumes for the show, it can show many different varieties of different scenes,” lead costumer Brody Sedlacek shared.
Brody pointed to the film noir segment, with its old Hollywood appearance, as an example of how costumes help establish each setting. Other portions of the show have a more modern look, while performers playing multiple roles must make repeated costume changes.
The result is a Park High Theater production in which the audience repeatedly moves out of the central police investigation and into the suspects' very different versions of events before returning to the interrogation.
As Suchner explained, the characters emerge from each flashback as though they have “re-entered the world” of the police procedural after finishing their alibi.
Park High Theater will present Alibis Nov. 6 and 7 at 7 p.m. and Nov. 8 at 2 p.m.