On November 12 and 13, Saint James Theater presented Clue on Stage, based on the iconic 1985 Paramount movie which was inspired by the classic Hasbro board game. 

This hilarious murder-mystery began at a remote mansion, where six guests assembled for a dinner party. When their host turned up dead, they all became suspects. Led by Wadsworth (the butler), Miss Scarlett, Professor Plum, Mrs. White, Mr. Green, Mrs. Peacock, and Colonel Mustard had to race to find the killer as the body count stacked up. The show was pure entertainment, as the audience tried to figure out WHO did it, WHERE, and with WHAT.

Nicole Ruark, who co-directed the play with Melanie Regan ‘00, said it was remarkable what the cast and crew accomplished in such a short time.  Unlike the winter musical, which students can choose to participate in lieu of a sport, the students in the play are also competing in fall athletics.  They had only 11 rehearsals and two dress rehearsals before opening night.  An extra challenge was that Clue is an ensemble piece, unlike some fall plays in the past that were a collection of short scenes or monologues.

“Those are easier to rehearse because you can just grab two people at a time,” Ruark said. “But in Clue, those six or eight characters never leave the stage. So, unless you die, you don’t get to exit. That was a challenge because we had to find rehearsal times that worked for everyone. But they did a great job, as Saint James students do.”

Ruark said there was a lot of independence in the student design of the show in terms of lighting, sound, and special effects. 
“I gave Lily Cucuzzella the script, and she created the entire sound design. The very first time we rehearsed with sound, she brought in her computer and Bluetooth speaker, and I would give feedback," Ruark said. "Chaltu [Watkins] oversaw special effects. I taught her how to make safe, edible fake blood, and gave her the tools and materials, and she learned how to create it and practiced and practiced until she got it. They both did an amazing job and are just two examples of how I gave students their responsibilities and let them go."
Ruark said what she’ll remember from this show was how fun it was, not just for the cast and crew, but for the audience as well. 

“It’s great when art creates great purpose and social change and movement, but sometimes you just want to entertain,” she said. “It reminded me the value of just entertaining a crowd and giving them a night where in those 90 minutes they had a great time.”