Hello and welcome to The Murder at Haversham Manor.
We are thrilled that the Knights Drama Society is now performing at Arizona College Prep High School. We can only apologize to those involved in the production of Wicked originally scheduled for this week, which due to a clerical error, is now being performed in the ACP Gymnasium. We hope there are no hard feelings and we’ve left the vaulting horse out for you.
The question everyone at Knights has been asking is: are we ready for a venue of this size? The answer is “yes.” The cast and I rehearsed for weeks using only the best acting teachings to inspire us. We read that Sanford Meisner once said, “Acting is behaving truthfully,” so we immediately changed all the names in the play to our own names and cut the murder, the manor house setting and any other element that we hadn’t personally experienced. We then found the piece rather flat, and it only ran at 17 minutes. So we went back to the Meisner book and we realized the full quote was in fact: “Acting is behaving truthfully... under imaginary circumstances,” so we reinstated the cuts and we were then quickly back on track.
We found the teachings of Michael Chekhov less confusing. He says, “An actor has to burn inside with an outer ease.” So that evening it was TNT Buffalo Style Wings for the entire cast at Mike's Hot Chicken in Gilbert. However, try as we did to not react to our burning insides, it was certainly noticeable that we were all in significant discomfort, which just goes to show how tough acting can be. At the end of the evening, Dennis was actually sick in the restaurant bathrooms. We always knew he was one of the weaker actors.
All this hard work and preparation has left us with an ensemble piece that has achieved such critical acclaim as “RATHER UNSETTLING” from Mr. Roth, esteemed assitant principle at ACP High. I’m sure that with a full audience, the piece will truly bring down the house.
CHRISTINE BEAN
President of the Knights Drama Society &
Director and Star of The Murder at Haversham Manor
