Farcical Mystery Slated For 3 Shows At Enfield High School

ENFIELD, CT — The Enfield High School Lamplighters will present "Loco-motion, Commotion, Dr. Gorilla and Me" on Friday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 23 at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 for students and seniors and $10 for general admission, and will be available at the door.

If you've ever enjoyed those wonderfully dreadful late night mystery-thrillers of the past, you'll go wild over this clever, wacky, uproarious farce. Young Priscilla Del Mar (Collette Moreau) has journeyed into the country with her superstitious cousin Patsy (Makena Schwab) to view "The Old Dark House," her inheritance from a weird uncle who was known to have carried on even weirder experiments. They are unknowingly followed by a hometown admirer (Greg Holmes) and a local lawman (Matt Renna).

When they learn that their property has burned down under suspicious circumstances, the girls are forced to take shelter in the home of Dr. Gorilla (Jack Winans), a legendary master criminal. His “mansion” is inhabited by a Mysterious Man (Harrison Youngberg), the housekeeper, Mrs. Nightfall (Heidi Ranz), and the man servant, Graves (Adam Rochette). This creepy establishment is also the mistaken destination of the “famous” DePayne Sisters (Cara Donelan, Alyssa Dowding, Grace Kesilewski, Heather Kirkbride, Erin Pellegrini, Emily Vandal), a floor show act made up of entertainers who break into song when they are nervous.

Unknown to everyone, guests at a nearby "home for the upset" have also invaded the premises: the feuding Grandma Hatfield (Kai Saucier-Drygren) and her daughters (Gaby Burns, Ashleigh Levine), Lizzie Borden (Victoria Price), Lady Gingerbread (Jordyn Medina), Hansel (K’yandra Saucier-Drygren), Gretel (Caroline Richards), Sweet Alice Blue Goon (Jordan Woronecki) and her southern belle friend (Maddie Bohan) and a wide variety of other “characters” (Paige Fournier, Aaron Justice, August Kearney, Riley Keegan, Melissa Murray, Zoe Powell, Brittany Wagner, Cindy Wilson).

A few of the strange “experiments” (Tyler Kickham) from "The Old Dark House” seem to be on the loose, too. Of course there are disappearing corpses and manic, mile-a-minute chase scenes. As if that doesn’t make things crazy enough, a truck driver with a secret arrives (K’yandra Saucier-Drygren) along with Miss Ratched (Olivia Sears), and her assistant, Spider (Connor Gaston) to bring their patients back to “the home.” Lunacy ensues and ends when a surprise visitor (Alanah Hutchings) arrives in the closing moments.

Our dedicated lighting, sound, prop and backstage crews (Madison Bowley, Sydney Hamre, Jason Higgins, August Kearney, Toby Klink, Becca Menard, Astrid Nassau, Cassidy Shay, Nate Sinnott, Aysia Smith, Emma Wlodkoski) add to the ambience of “The Old Dark House.” Don’t miss this fun night out.

Submitted by Joanne Vandal