BY RAEGAN NEUFELD<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Friday is the opening night for Hays Community Theatre\u2019s dinner theatre performance of \u2018Nobody Kills Sherlock,\u2019 a play written by local author Kathleen Holen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A comedy\/murder mystery, the play takes place at the annual Wheaton Book Club award banquet and follows the events of the evening, which include two authors making their rivalry public, a surprise guest speaker, and may or may not end with a murder. Director Amy Bergman described the show as super fun and entertaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo be able to be deeply involved and practically have memorized the whole thing myself, and still laugh, still get the innuendos and the actual overt comic theatre of it all, speaks to the quality of the work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HCT was able to get the performing rights to \u2018Nobody Kills Sherlock\u2019 in a somewhat unordinary way, starting in April when Holen contacted Bergman for help with organizing a read through of the play. Not only were the participants able to give feedback, Holen then also \u2018donated\u2019 her play to the theatre so they could perform it for free. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNormally, there\u2019s a charge to purchase a play,\u201d Bergman said. \u201cAny of these productions that we\u2019re putting on, we purchase the rights to do the play. She offered to do that for free for us, and we were, of course, thrilled.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bergman also mentioned the collaboration between her and Holen as the production has been developed. For instance, it was Holen\u2019s idea to make it a dinner theatre show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe worked with us to develop and she answered all these questions I had as far as making sure I was understanding the tone of the play and such,\u201d she said. \u201cI really want to honor her work and, of course make a good show. She\u2019s been very open with that. It\u2019s been really wonderful to work with her. The fact that I\u2019m a friend with her is really nice, but as a true director and author relationship, she really goes over and above.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Auditions took place at the very beginning of the year and rehearsals started on Jan. 25, meaning the cast has been working together for just a month. Bergman praised her cast and crew for their hard work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a lot of memorization in a short period of time, so that means they\u2019re working on their own on the days we don\u2019t have practice,\u201d she said. \u201cThese are people that all work regular, 40 hours a week jobs, and then we do this during our evenings and weekends as our hobby.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n