'A Lighter Shade of Noir' at Waseca Performing Arts

The Waseca Drama Department recently had two showings of the play, “A Lighter Shade of Noir” in the Waseca Junior Senior High School’s Performing Arts Center on both Friday, Nov. 21 and Sunday, Nov. 23. The play was written by Patrick Derksen and directed by Erin Coy.

 

The play opened at the dimly lit office of Detective Trent Trowel who was receiving an invitation to a detectives’ ball, and simultaneously ignoring the attempts of an insistent Mr. Smith who was trying to offer important information. In attendance at the ball were Mayor Defehr (played by Teagan Neidecker) and famous singer Beverley Stewart (played by Aileen Lindsay Brothers. There were also the foursome of detectives and their assistants, Ms. Beatrice (playPrined by Charlotte Griffith), a clever elderly woman prone to distraction; Jean Eustache (played by Khloe Nelson,) a French detective with energy. Shirley Holms (played by Sadie Schimming), a Sherlock Holmes mirror image and Detective Trent Trowel, played by Elliot Galle, who talks to himself and is on the lookout for love.

 

On display at the ball there are valuable items from past cases, including a gold mask and a rare feather. During the festivities, the lights go out; when they come back on, Detective Trowel is on the floor nursing a knock on the head–and the valuable items are gone. From there all fingers point to the four detectives and an investigation ensues after they make a narrow escape.

 

It turns out the assistants to the detectives, Dr. Watson, Jane and Monsieur Silencieux, assistant to Jean Eustache. The four were dissatisfied with their bosses and their lack of respect, and decided to frame them for theft. But since they were four of the world’s most famous detectives, it was only a matter of time before the truth came out.

 

The run time for the play was around an hour and thirty minutes. The sets switched between the office of Detective Trowel and the ballroom where the crime was committed. In between scenes the crew was quick to change the sets. At the end there were three sets of bows, first from the crew, then from the second leads, then the main characters. The cast stayed out in the hallway afterwards for interviews, photos and signatures. Charlotte Griffith, who played Ms. Beatrice said, “We had a little trouble in the beginning, but after a lot of practice we were finally ready for the performance. I practiced my lines every day with my mom and that really helped.”

 

The cast and crew would like to thank Karen Pfarr-Anderson, Tracy Kopetzki, Chuck Pollock, Victor Gilmore, the custodial staff at Waseca Junior Senior High and Karla Jerry and Joe Hedevare for their administrative guidance.