Cappies Review: No Crime Like the Present at Falls Church High School

Recall those days of film noir "Whodunit" action, suspense, and mystery.  Throw a large helping of comedy on top and you've got "No Crime Like the Present," the play by Bill Gleason.  Riddled with plot twists, quirky characters, and off-beat humor, the play was featured as Falls Church High School's spring show.

Taking place in the 1970s, Bill Gleason's "No Crime Like the Present" centers around the exploits of protagonist Mavis Davis, a Private Investigator, who tries to find a balance between her work and social life while solving mysteries. Davis' social life must take a back seat when a new case unfolds. Cassandra Dumont, the avaricious news anchor at KDOA Action News was found dead: poisoned by cyanide. The suspects range from the extremely likely to the hopelessly unlikely to the potentially dangerous, but everybody's got a motive.

After a brief prologue by Betsy Ryan (Mavis Davis), the show opened with a high-energy and rather crowd-pleasing news broadcast.  The crowd was pleased and delighted by the charismatic performances of Brennan Jones and Melanie Reuter, who played Luther Preston and Cassandra Dumont, respectively. Throughout the show, Jones and Reuter continually graced the audience with both realistic and farcical humor.  One particularly enjoyable performance was that of Zackary Ascencio (Stan Van the Weather Man).  Ascencio's over-the-top farcical behavior onstage made his scenes a pleasure to see.  The exuberantly bubbly nature of Jennie Abbot, played by Katie Davidson, was a crowd favorite right off the bat, as well.

Overall, the ensemble pulled together a nicely-crafted show.  Most scenes were full of action and quickly-paced, but even the quieter ones exhibited some sort of comedy. Confusion resulted when some character choices seemed out-of-place or forced, and some actors seemed to carry out their blocking without  understanding the purpose behind it.  Furthermore, although the show was done without the use of microphones, and projection was not an issue, certain actors had trouble enunciating clearly.  These flaws did take away from the overall effect of the show, but did not detract much from the storyline.

Technical elements of the show, for the most part, were pleasingly done.  Two mainstay sets as well as a removable news station completed the picture. Lighting for this kind of show was especially difficult, and was done very commendably, if not executed perfectly.

Tackled rather admirably by the students, Falls Church High School's production of "No Crime Like the Present" was a beauty.

by Hershel Holiday of Freedom High School through the high school Cappies program, the critics and awards program for high school theater. In this program, high school students are trained as critics, attend shows at other schools and write reviews for local newspapers. At the end of the year, student critics vote for awards that are presented at a formal Cappies Gala.