By: Erin Moore

This coming weekend, Highland Park’s theater department will put on its first play of the school year, ‘Murder on the Orient Express’.

From November 16th to November 18th at 7PM—with an additional Saturday matinee at 2PM—the cast and crew will perform for around two hours, with an intermission occurring halfway through the show, where snacks, merchandise, and beverages will be sold.

Agatha Christie’s ‘Murder on the Orient Express’, is a play written by Ken Ludwig, set in the 1930s. This play follows Hercule Poirot, a famous detective, as he takes a vacation for the first time in years. He boards the Orient Express, excited to finally have a break from his tiresome job. After one night on the train, however, a murder occurs, forcing Poirot to solve the case. Eight potential suspects remain on the train, all with a variety of stories and backgrounds. Could it be one of them? Could it possibly be someone else who snuck onto the train? Watch to find out.

Preparation for performances have been going very well, and as a member of the cast, I can confidently say that this is going to be a great show; potentially more so than our previous fall plays. All the actors are incredibly talented, the tech crew is efficient and hard-working, and the director is absolutely amazing at putting on productions here.

If you’re considering auditioning for future productions, you can find information all over the school and on the hptheatrearts Instagram page. When auditioning for ‘Murder on the Orient Express’, I found a QR code in the school and it brought me to a Google form to sign up for an audition slot after school, and provide information about availability.

In my audition, the director, Nancy Michael, had my group read for different characters in selected scenes from the play. Because the main characters come from different countries, we also were asked to try accents for the audition.

The rehearsal schedule was soon posted in the Theatre’s Schoology group, informing the cast when they would rehearse and who was needed each day. In rehearsals, cast members worked on memorization of the script, blocking, character development, and general scenes.

A week before performances, “tech week” began. This is when lighting, sound, costumes, sets, and every other aspect not added earlier in rehearsal, joins with what’s already been rehearsed.

Now that the fall play is almost over, auditions will soon be held for the winter one acts; eleven of which will be performed over the span of two weekends. If you would like to be involved in cast or crew, contact Nancy Michael.

So, if ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ sounds interesting to you, and you’d like to help support the school’s theater department, I highly recommend attending one of the four performances this coming weekend.