Watch out!
At Breakthrough Theatre, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Murder’ is afoot
Wade Hair has murder on his mind. Not real murder — well, at least not any murderous plans he’s willing to confess to an Orlando Sentinel reporter — but murder of the fictional kind.
“Crazy Little Thing Called Murder,” a collection of original, locally written short plays, is onstage at Breakthrough Theatre in Winter Park through March 4.
“I love murder mysteries,” says Hair, who runs Breakthrough Theatre. “I would do a whole season of murder mysteries if I could.”
“Crazy Little Thing Called Murder” follows five installments of a successful short-play program called “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” with a theme of, well, love obviously.
Hair decided to switch things up this year. And though he plans to introduce a new theme annually in the future, that could change — depending on how bloodthirsty audiences are.
“Murder is pretty fun, so who knows?” he says. “If this is a huge hit, we may be murdering people again next year.”
I’m pretty sure he’s still talking about fake onstage deaths.
The topic of murder certainly proved popular with local playwrights.
“We had 32 submissions this year, the most we’ve ever had,” Hair said. He and others read them and then chose eight for the “Crazy Little” production. Each is no more than 15 minutes.
Hair is impressed the writers could create twisty mysteries under such time constraints.
“There’s no time for character building, really,” he says. “I’m sure it was hard to have a nice surprise ending — and they did it.”
The plays have different tones; some comical, some serious. None is gruesome, and there’s no bad language, Hair says. He suggests an audience guideline of age 12 and older.
Does he have a personal favorite type of mystery or author? He goes with the classic.
“Agatha Christie, none better,” he says without hesitation — naming the author of not only dozens of mystery novels
but “The Mousetrap,” the longest-running play in history. “I’ve read her books since I was a little boy.”
Hair adds with a laugh — wait, was that an evil laugh? — “I was one of those who read books before I was supposed to.”
Maybe we should keep
the arsenic away from him, just to be safe.
Here’s a look at the plays in “Crazy Little Thing Called Murder.” “Calendar Girl” by Ken Preuss: A woman relives a tumultuous year as she flips through a calendar. Hitchcock, humor, heartbreak and horror ensue. “Closing Argument” by Tony Pelham: It’s time for closing arguments in the trial of Cheryl Collins, accused of killing her husband. Is she guilty?
“The (Entirely Falsified) Murder at 123 Mulberry Lane”
by Mac Anderson: Audrey’s murder-mystery birthday party takes a turn when one member decides to make the situation more real than any of the guests could have imagined.
“The Last Act” by Carol Begerow-Adubato and Barbara Begerow: Lieutenant Palumbo and Detective Kastle try to solve the murder of a young, struggling actor.
“Obsessed With Murder”
by Larry Stallings: Lacie thinks there is a murderer in the neighborhood, but will it just be a figment of her murder-obsessed imagination as usual — or is she finally right?
“Opening Night” by Jennifer Schell: An estranged couple star in a play together as things become a little too real onstage and off.
“Surprise” by Lisa Davidson Hines: A surprise birthday party turns into bigger surprise than expected. “The Well” by Linard Feliciano: Taylor visits a park, with a mysterious well, and quickly realizes something is not quite right.
‘CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED MURDER’
Where: Breakthrough Theatre, 6900 Aloma Ave. in Winter Park
When: Through March 4 Cost: $20 ($18 seniors, $16 students)
Info: breakthroughtheatre. com