Southeastern Regional players to perform school's first dinner theatre

Take one Italian boss. Add his family, another rival family, some femme fatale spies, and a sprinkle of quirky characters, including a pretty-boy informant, body guards, flappers and an emcee. Blend them all up, and you’ve got a lively, innovative play, which should be a perfect mixture for Southeastern’s first dinner theatre.

The performance, to take place Thursday, November 12, at 6 p.m., will be a murder mystery, and the setting is a New York Speakeasy named “Carmillovanna,” in 1927 (transformed from the Student Commons area). The audience will participate immediately, as they have to give the doorman a password when they enter the Speakeasy (provided by a ticket).

Once inside, the audience will be encouraged to interact with the cast, who are all connected to the speakeasy’s owner. They will also have to solve a murder mystery, so the ending will not be known until the performance takes place.

Performing Arts Director Kerri Cooper said her performing arts students brainstormed last summer to create the characters, and the script evolved from there. The students wrote most of the script, but they also will be adding in their own touches as the play unfolds.

“The script is 80 percent written, and 20 percent improvisation, and there are three different endings, which won’t be resolved until the end of the performance,” Ms. Cooper said.

Throughout the performance, the audience will also be treated to a floor show and a dinner prepared by the school’s culinary students. The menu starts with cheese/cracker and fruit platter stations and hot hors d’oeuvres, which will precede a dinner that includes salad, baked stuffed chicken with potato, vegetable and dessert. Beverages, including water, coffee and juices, will be also available throughout the performance.

The public is invited, and tickets are $25. Ms. Cooper recommends that people reserve seats as quickly as possible by calling her at 508-230-1442 or emailing her at kcooper@sersd.org.

Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School is a public 9-12 vocational high school located in Easton, Massachusetts, serving approximately 1,375 students from the city of Brockton and the towns of East Bridgewater, Easton, Foxborough, Mansfield, Norton, Sharon, Stoughton, and West Bridgewater.