Comedy 'Baskerville' coming to Great Plains Theatre
Sep. 7—Next in the schedule of many summer productions, Great Plains Theatre is ready to present their rendition of "Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery." The two-hour long production with professional actors will be showing at the theatre for the next three weekends, with the opening date being Sept. 9.
"Bringing a play into this season is something that we have been looking forward to and something that patrons have been asking for," said Mitchell Aiello, stage manager and artistic and education director. "I am overjoyed with this piece, as it is not only dramatic and mysterious, but it is also hysterical. There is no better way to introduce a play into the season than to hit all the marks of genres that are interesting and will bring the most enjoyment."
"Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery" is playwright Ken Ludwig's transformation of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes book, "The Hound of the Baskervilles," Aiello said. Ludwig edits Holmes' and Doctor John Watson's murder mystery into an, "outrageously funny," retelling, Aiello said. Instead of Holmes and Watson living the story, the pair are retelling the story in a theatre. While the basic plotline of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" is intact in this show, how the story is told and the details behind the storyline are entirely new.
Helping Holmes and Watson tell the story, three people from the theatre cycle through over 40 characters by utilizing props to signify the difference of the 40 plus characters the three actors play. Part of the humor is from the three actors handling and transitioning through all the characters, sometimes multiple characters at once.
"Instead of it just being a mystery of 'oh I wonder and I'm contemplating,' we're not only making the audience contemplate who is the murderer, why the murders are happening at Baskerville Hall, but also laughing along the way at the ridiculous of only a few people having to tell this story," Aiello said.
The cast of five actors are played by professional actors. In the cast, Sherlock Holmes is played by Joshua Steckelberg. Doctor John Watson is played by Bear Manescalchi. Actor 1 is played by Mary Pochatko. Actor 2 is played by Casey Andrews. Actor 3 is played by Jennifer Lynne Barnaba.
"Seeing these five brilliant actors work each day is such a treat. Their ensemble performance is not to be missed," Aiello said.
Billy Eric Robinson is the director of this production of "Baskerville."
"Running for three weekends will give you plenty of time to see why Great Plains Theatre excels in the live theatrical art form while sharing laughter, memories and love with the community," Aiello said. "We hope to see you at this phenomenal production."
Dates of the show are the weekends of Sept. 9-11, Sept. 16-18 and Sept. 23-25. Shows on Fridays are at 7:30 p.m. Sunday shows are at 2 p.m. Saturday dates have shows at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at greatplainstheatre.com or by phone at 785-263-4574.
