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Bowie Blade

April 26 - press coverage
May 3 - Review

April 26, 2007
Murder' takes the stage at St. James in Old Bowie

By ANNETTE ESTERHELD Staff Writer
When is a church parish hall not a church parish hall? When a theatre
group stages a play there and the parish hall becomes part of the play
as happens this weekend when "Murder Takes the Stage" at St. James
Episcopal Church in Old Bowie.

The play, produced by OutOftheBlackBox Theatre Co., tells the story of
what happens when a cast member is murdered during a play rehearsal at
the Ivytown Summer Theatre and for the performances which run from April
27 to May 12, St. James' church hall is the Ivytown Summer Theatre.

"The play is set in the late 1950s and is a campy murder mystery,"
artistic director Betsy Delaney told the Blade-News. "It's sort of Nancy
Drewish because a young person in the play gets involved in solving the
murder."

OutOftheBlackBox Theatre Co. is a relatively new and somewhat unknown
local theatre group started by Delaney in 2004 after she moved to Bowie.

Delaney said she named the group OutOftheBlackBox because she was
inspired by the Bowie Center for the Performing Arts. "I had the
opportunity to tour the building and saw the large recital hall that
would make such a great black box theatre space," she said.

"A black box is a simple performance space that usually is a large
square room with black walls and a flat floor," she said. "The seating
is adaptable to the performance and the focus is on the performance, not
the space."

Delaney said her hope is to someday offer performances at the center,
perhaps in the recital hall black box atmosphere and maybe someday out
of the black box in the large auditorium that seats 800 people.

"OutOftheBlackBox is all about giving people the opportunity to explore
different aspects of the theatre experience, from acting and directing
to technical and administration and everything in between," she said.
"So in a sense they are 'out of the box' by taking on different roles
instead of always performing or always directing."

Delaney said the performers in this production are a mixture of seasoned
performers and those new to the stage. Director Jo Rake has acted, but
never directed before, and the lighting director is new to that role.

She said the theatre group is all about experimentation and that the
pieces they plan to produce are best suited to the flexibility and
freedom associated with a black box environment.

"Murder Takes the Stage" is the third OutOftheBlackBox production and
the first performed in Bowie. Two earlier productions, "Six Characters
in Search of an Author" and "A Company of Wayward Saints," were both
presented at the Greenbelt Arts Center, that has a black box space
located in the lower level of the Greenbelt Co-op building.
Published 04/26/07, Copyright © 2007 The Bowie Blade

May 3

 Plot thickens in staging a 'Murder' at St. James

By ANNETTE ESTERHELD Staff Writer
When playwright Drew Pelman snags theater star Hazel Laverne for the summer 
theatre opening of his new play, he's assured of a hit, or is he? It's quickly 
clear in OutOftheBlackBox Theatre Co.'s production of James Reach's "Murder 
Takes the Stage" that most in the cast have reason to dislike Hazel intensely 
and there's very little about Hazel to like.

Even the audience finds her character hard to take and when Hazel is shot and 
killed for real on stage during a scene where her character is supposedly shot 
with blanks from a gun, the plot thickens as the other actors tell their tales 
of jealousy and blackmail in relationship to Hazel. It's up to the local sheriff 
and Mitzi, the college student who loves true crime, to set a trap for the 
murderer.

The play is set in the late 1950s, but director Jo Rake said that the cast "is 
representative of today's theatre community and adds a modern touch to the play." 
There are 13 actors in the play and each has to establish his or her character 
before Hazel is killed. The cast, a blend of seasoned and new performers, does a 
good job of that. Some that are especially noteworthy include Sandra Cox True, 
who plays Miss Liz, owner of the theatre; Steve Kramer as Hazel's promoter Larry
Strickland; Jo Klein-Duke as Sara Farnham, an actress whose career has seen better 
days; Penny Martin as Jane Bond, who runs the summer theater; and Michael Parker, 
as the wily, down-home-style Sheriff Wiley.

Mitzi is played by Angela Abadir, 15, a Bowie High School student. Abadir shows 
us an overzealous Nancy Drew character who won't give up until she solves the 
mystery.

Kudos to the entire cast for making their characters believable and for keeping 
the audience's attention as first one then another is considered for the murder 
of Hazel - and all of this on a bare stage with no props or sets, only folding 
chairs and one small table where the director sat. The taped interlude music 
prepared by Rake and artistic director Betsy Delaney adds to the atmosphere as 
the story builds to its conclusion and the murderer is identified.

"Murder Takes the Stage" is the third production of the relatively new theatre 
company OutOftheBlackBox and its first presentation in Bowie. The company seeks 
to offer an environment where performers and production staff can experiment with 
all different aspects of production from acting to technical support to 
administration. For information, visit www.OutOftheBlackBox.org.
Published 05/03/07, Copyright © 2007 The Bowie Blade 

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