Bison Theatre decided to go for laughs this fall with the comedy Clue for its fall production. The show was set in the 1950s and was mainly about the Red Scare and McCarthy’s House Un-American Committee, and was based on the board game of the same name. The show had two community performances last week.

The cast of characters included a lascivious doctor of psychology, a crooked politicians wife, a gentlemen’s club owner, a colonel customer of the club owner, a murderous socialite, a disloyal republican vegan, a French maid, a British butler, a cook, and the boss of the maid, the cook and the butler, who was also blackmailing the other guests. 

“The variety of characters was so much fun,” director Melonie Menefee said. “Mrs. Villarreal did a terrific job of seeing which student could handle which character the best, and we spent so much of every rehearsal laughing at what they came up with.”

The show began on a dark and stormy night, with the maid, Yvette, played by junior Cylen Brown, being startled by Wadsworth, the butler, played by junior Billy Duncan. They were then joined by the cook, played by sophomore Ashtyn Barzda. The trio went over the plans for the night’s dinner party, which would lead to an unfortunate comedy of errors. 

The first guest arrived: Colonel Mustard, the customer of the club owner that also held a sensitive position at the pentagon, played by senior Lindsey Hardin. Hardin has also performed in numerous OAP productions, with her most notable recent roles as Magda in A House Full of Letters and Scar in The Lion King as well as a part of the ensemble of prisoners in last spring’s Balkan Women. 

After the Colonel was shown to the lounge, the second guest arrived: Mrs. White, the murderous socialite, played by junior Emma Cocking. How is she murderous you ask? Well, she’s had five husbands and all of them have died or disappeared under “mysterious circumstances.” On top of acting as Mrs. White in the performance, Cocking is the historian for Bison Theatre and has also performed in numerous other productions, including Lena in A House Full of Letters, Zazu in The Lion King, and Amina in The Balkan Women, earning an acting award for her performance as Amina. 

Shortly after Mrs. White came, Mrs. Peacock entered, the crooked politician’s wife, played by junior Nicollette Arabie. Arabie’s recent roles include characters in Balkan Women, Lion King and House Full of Letters, with her drowning scene in Balkan Women being one of the most memorable.

After Mrs. Peacock, Mr. Green arrived, a timid and disloyal republican vegan played by freshman Brock Corbitt. Corbitt is new to the high school program this year but has acted for Buffalo at the junior high level before, playing Mr. Daimler in last year’s production of Dark Road. 

The final two guests arrived at the same time, including Professor Plum, the lascivious doctor of psychology, and Miss Scarlett, the gentlemen’s club owner, played by junior Luis Ortiz and senior Alani Jones. Ortiz has been a tech member of Bison Theatre for the last two years and decided to give it a try at acting this year. Jones is the Theatre president and has been in past productions including Lion King and Balkan Women. 

With that the stage was set for a night, where secrets were exposed, creating motives for every murder to come through the play. The first murder was that of Mr. Boddy, played by sophomore John Clements. This was Clements’s first performance, but he was backstage from last year’s productions of Balkan Women and The Lion King. It was later uncovered by Wadsworth, played by Duncan. Duncan earned acting awards in OAP for his performance as Nico in A House Full of Letters and was Simba in last year’s production of The Lion King and was a soldier in The Balkan Women. Boddy was murdered by Wadsworth with the lead pipe in the bathroom because Wadsworth was actually Boddy and Boddy was Wadsworth and had blabbed to the FBI about Boddy’s misdeeds and his green card love affair with Yvette, the maid, played by Brown. Brown is the theatre’s social media liaison and has performed with the theatre as Catalina in A House Full of Letters, a lioness in The Lion King, and a soldier in Balkan Women.

The second murder was the cook, played by Barzda. Barzda is a sophomore member of theatre and performed last year as Seraphina in The Lion King and a soldier in Balkan Women. She was murdered by Mrs. Peacock for blabbing about her bribes with the dagger in the kitchen. 

The next murder was that of a seemingly random motorist, played by sophomore Maylene Caceras. Caceras is a member of the football team and this is her first production with Bison Theatre. The motorist was killed by Colonel Mustard with the wrench in the lounge. The motorist was killed because he knew where the Colonel went on Tuesday nights (to Miss Scarlett’s ‘establishment’). 

The fourth murder was the murder of a cop who showed up unexpectedly and just so happened to be on Miss Scarlett’s payroll. This cop was played by sophomore Kaylee Trumball, who was a gazelle in Lion King last fall. 

The fifth murder was that of Yvette. Yvette was murdered by Mrs. White with the rope in the billiard room. The reasoning was Yvette’s torrid love affair with one of Mrs. White’s late husbands. 

The final murder was the murder of a singing telegram girl, played by sophomore Reagyn Dennix. Dennix played Young Nala in The Lion King and an imprisoned woman in Balkan Women. She was murdered by Professor Plum in the hall with the revolver because she was the teenage patient that Plum dated, who would’ve come clean to the head of the United Nations Organization of the World Health Organization, Plum’s boss. 

How was it all resolved, you ask? Well, Mr. Green wasn’t Mr. Green. He was Larry Goodman, a special agent from the FBI. He was there to run a sting operation and convicted all guilty parties that arrived at the dinner party. Oh, and he wasn’t a vegan.