left to right
Top row: Nicholas Ramirez, Sujay Gunda, David King Landrith Jr., Jack Farmer, Sarah Crossen
Middle row: Madison Wright, Khushi Kapoor, Ada Luke Hartnett
Bottom row: Lyla Heath, Jason Sussman, Anna Glasgow
Not shown: Mara Kuroda and Lexi Harper
Clue premieres on Nov. 1st, with shows on the 2nd, 8th and 9th at the Damascus High School auditorium. With the help of the DHS tech crew and staff, dedicated students are presenting an all-time classic.
Just three weeks away from opening night, the Damascus Drama Club is putting their blood, sweat and tears into putting on the best show of the year. Everyone, whether working backstage or on stage, is working tirelessly to put on Clue: On Stage for the Damascus community. Clue, written by Sandy Rustin and based on the 1985 film and board game of the same name, is an iconic piece of pop culture. The pressure is high for the Drama Club to do justice to the original film.
As a collaborative effort between the cast and the tech, everyone has an equal role in producing the play, whether it be building the set, running through lines, painting the set and blocking out scenes, each part helps bring unity to the play. Nonetheless, there are still several challenges with putting together such a set-heavy play promptly.
Clue: On Stage has eight rooms, similar to the board game, and there are scenes in seven rooms, meaning that the set will have to be built so that each room is visible to the audience and fits in the vicinity of the Damascus Auditorium. To those unfamiliar with Clue, the board game has eight different rooms: the hall, the lounge, the dining room, the kitchen, the conservatory, the library, the ballroom and the study. Set designer and Damascus senior Mars Dunn described the specific challenges of building the set, noting that “it’s trying to use the little materials that we have to bring those rooms to life and just kind of analyzing how much this room is used for that so that less used rooms in the play can have like probably a smaller like little set piece compared to more significant ones.” However, they also expressed that “100% is a little bit of a challenge with the ideas of making them and I’m actually really excited to see them brought to life.”
Both the cast and the tech all have a comforting familiarity with the movie Clue, whether it be from nostalgia for playing the board game or watching the movie with family many times. Each member of the cast holds a special connection to the role they are playing. In an interview, Wadsworth, played by senior Nicholas Ramirez, mentioned “it’s such a tie to my family and their connection to it and my connection to them really brings my family unit together.” This personal connection is also shared by Dunn, who revealed that “Mrs White reminds me of my mom because my mom has watched this movie hundreds of times and I’m not even joking when I say hundreds. She has the entire movie memorized.”
Damascus Drama will put on the show of a generation on Nov. 1, 2, 8 and 9. Inspired by the movie and board game Clue, the tech crew, DHS staff, and the actors are dedicated to presenting an all-time classic and hope to see you there. Be there or be square!
