Rockville writers set to stage 16th annual murder mystery. It’s a devil of a time.
Who killed the devil?
That is the theme of the Rockville High School creative writing classes’ annual student-penned murder/mystery.
The one-act show (with the reveal of the murderer after a short intermission) traditionally finds a cast of characters defending themselves and providing alibis as the murder of someone, or something, is investigated.
In “The Devil Made Me Do It,” the devil’s spouse questions a room full of the Seven Deadly Sins as to who murdered her husband.
Morgan Fischer, a junior, plays Pride, and was the main writer of the script.
“The show has been a work in progress since last year. I was doing a Seven Deadly Sins unit in my Advanced Creative Writing II class,” she said, noting that it wasn’t clear at first who the victim would be.
“We knew we wanted a Seven Deadly Sins cast,” Fischer said. “Traditionally, they are reasons why people are sent to hell, so we thought, ‘Why not have the devil be the one who is killed?’”
The setting is a party being held in a lounge somewhere within Hell, but there won’t be open flames, of course. Instead, cavern-like boulders will set the scene, as the accused defendants present their cases as to why they could not be the murderer. How an immortal character could be killed is also played for laughs.
“Who killed the boss? I thought he was immortal?” Fischer said, citing lines from the show. “It’s all a big joke about, ‘What is Hell, actually?’ It’s our entertaining little take on what we think Hell is.”
Junior Kimberly Yankson plays the devil - a role she wasn’t sure how to approach at first.
“I introduce everyone to the show, and I end up dying [early on], but I stay and kind of observe, secretly,” she said. “Technically, the devil’s already dead. At first, I was kind of scared. I didn’t think I was mean enough, or aggressive enough, but I’ve added some sass, some comedic sass, so it’s become more comfortable.”
Junior Nora Locicero plays the devil’s spouse, who is also the lead detective, and said the best part of the show is the different characters.
“They were cast really well,” she said. “It’s really funny to see how the characters act on their own. They’re each so different. It’s a great mix of people.”
The personified sins are each played in over-the-top comedic style, with plenty of puns and pop culture references, but the audience might want to pay close attention to the little things going on onstage.
“There are a lot of things that go on in the background that go unnoticed,” Fischer said. “If you’re too focused on who is giving their alibi, or who the devil’s spouse is investigating, you’ll miss a bunch of things in the background.”
“You definitely see Greed steal from a lot of people, and in obvious ways. He’s not really discreet,” said Joey Gorski, also a junior, who plays Greed and warns that audience members might want to keep tabs on where their wallets and jewelry are.
“I also go into the crowd and try to steal from people,” he said. “Also, Lust flirts with a lot of people, and Envy tries to copy people. Wrath is just angry a lot, and Sloth is just sleeping.”
Some celebrities, including a prominent leader who recently passed away, also make cameo appearances. The audience also gets in on the act, as they can interact with the characters during intermission, and guess at which one is the murderer. There are also two different endings with a different killer each time - one for each night.
The 16th Annual RHS Murder Mystery will be performed Dec. 1 and Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. in the RHS auditorium. Pre-sale Tickets are $5 at the RHS office. Tickets at the door are $10.
