Park students have been working hard to bring Tim Kelly’s The 

Butler Did It to life, which will open November 11 at seven, and continue running November 12 at seven and November 13 at three. The Butler Did It is a fun and flamboyant comedy. Ms. Maple, a rich socialite invites a group of wacky mystery writers to the illustrious Ravenswood Manor for a fun weekend party; however, panic and chaos ensue when a body shows up, which the characters quickly discover is real and not a fun prank played by Ms. Maple. 

Rehearsals have been in session since auditions in September.

Mrs. Nelson, who has directed the fall play for five years now, said that her favorite part about directing the play is getting to see the creative process of the actors she works with and watch them be slowly brought to life.

When asked about how she chose the play for this year, Mrs. Nelson that she had read through dozens of plays and couldn’t find what she felt to be a good fit for students within the department. That is, until Ms. Mathieu suggested The Butler Did It.

One thing Mrs. Nelson enjoys about this play is the fact that… “It’s not a traditional murder mystery. It’s a spoof, which allows us to not have to take ourselves so seriously.”

Taking an inside look at the casting process, Mrs. Nelson said that one of the hardest things about it was having to take the around forty people who auditioned and downsize them to twenty, and eventually eleven.

“This was my first year doing second callbacks and I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.” Mrs. Nelson did however state that after second callbacks she found it easy to trust her gut in casting the show.

Chloe Humway, tech crew head of the props crew, said her favorite thing about working tech is, “getting to see the play come together from start to finish.”

She also raved about the bonds that are formed through tech. She feels that props and other crews can help to find a way to talk to someone that you didn’t know how to before, and that it has also made her closer with Ms. Mathieu, the head of props. 

Chloe feels that being a crew head, although coming with more responsibility and hours, is still a lot of fun. She advises that anyone interested in tech be motivated and determined, and so long as they put in the work they’ll have a blast. 

The cast of this show is very talented, and I took the chance to talk to three cast members. Alex Fabrizio, playing Rick Carlyle, a snobby upper-class mystery writer, is the only sophomore in the cast. He talked about how fun the production is but also the pressure he feels, as he feels as if he must set the standard for the sophomore class and make sure he’s representing his grade well.

He has stated, however, that some of that pressure has been alleviated by fellow cast members. For the most part, Alex doesn’t like to focus on grade levels but instead focuses on how he can bond with fellow cast members. When asked how older cast members have been helping him through this experience, he answered that they’ve shown him it’s okay to make mistakes and you don’t have to be perfect.

Addy Perks, playing Charity Haze, a James Bond-esque mystery writer, is one of a handful of cast members that were in She Kills Monsters last year. When asked about how the play this year has been different from her experience last year, Addy talked about how having a bigger role this year has allowed her to show more of her acting range, as her character this year has a far different personality than Farrah the Faerie had last year.

When asked about directing style, as last year’s play was directed by Mike Aulick while Mrs. Nelson was on maternity leave, Addy said that rehearsals this year felt less stressful.

She feels that Mrs. Nelson is very organic and has a very laid back directing style… “She lets you have creative direction… if it works, she leaves it in.”

Grace O’Neil, playing Rita Eyelesbarrow, Ms. Maple’s social secretary, has actually worked with Mrs. Nelson for three years now through the debate team. When asked about how working with Mrs. Nelson for a play is different then debate, they talked about how cool it was to get to see a more creative side of Mrs. Nelson. They talked about debate bringing out an analytical and logical style of Mrs. Nelson, and how cool it was to see her creative side more.

When asked about positive experiences with the play, Grace was quick to talk about bonding with cast members and getting to hang around with people. They also said that with being a senior, it feels more important with the play to focus on the positives instead of stressors. 

When asked about their favorite part of the show, all three cast members had a different answer.

Addy stated her favorite part was Act 3… “You find out so much and so much is happening. You find out something new every line.”

Grace really loves how much their character gets to toy with the detective writers through the investigation. Alex has really enjoyed just getting to work on his character and build him to where he should be.

When asked about their favorite character in the play, Addy and Grace were in consensus in naming Father White, played by Ayden Cottrill. They both love the way Ayden plays the character and how hilarious he is while doing so.

Grace even feels that Father White is, “by far the most enjoyable part of the play.”

Alex, however, enjoys seeing the role of Louie Fan, played by Logan Frazier. He feels that Louie’s sometimes out of place lines feel perfect with the hilarity Logan brings to them.

Logan also uses a fan as a prop throughout, which Alex also enjoys as part of the character, stating that… “The fan is everything.”

The cast of The Butler Did It has been hard at work throughout the rehearsal process, bringing to life these hilarious and wacky characters. They are not only amazing actors, but amazing people as well. As the show dates draw closer, I am more and more confident that this show is going to be amazing and hilarious.