OSWEGO (OES) STAR PLAYERS PRESENT
A MIX OF COMEDY AND MYSTERY AND DINNER

“I Was Pushed!”—It’s Murder on the Rerun
by John Krauss, Lake City #127

Being a dead person doesn't necessarily mean you have no life. Sometimes, when there is an unjust death, some souls cannot rest until the truth behind their murder is revealed. And that's exactly what happens in Fred Carmichael's comedic murder mystery Murder on the Rerun, which tells the story of a woman named Jane who is determined to solve the mystery behind her own death. The Oswego Star Players present Murder on the Rerun as their 2006 production. The curtain rises in Wilcox Hall in Mexico Friday, Saturday and Sunday September 15-17. Following a delightful home-cooked Turkey dinner with all the trimmings relax and enjoy the annual Oswego District, OES presentation.

Murder on the Rerun takes a different approach to mystery as a ghost tries to find out who murdered her in a witty, sophisticated, yet suspenseful look at the upper crust of Hollywood. Set late in the last century, an eclectic group of people converge at the Vermont ski lodge of Hollywood mogul Stanzio for the weekend. There are producers, actors and even a gossip columnist, who all have career opportunities in mind. However, Jane is not as shallow and selfish as the rest. She's a more trusting person and a little naive of the Hollywood culture.

Jane comes to the lodge with her actor husband, Hugh, to bring her newly finished screenplay, The Loves of Laura, for Stanzio to consider producing. But Jane is discovered lying dead at the bottom of the stairs and it's presumed by all that she fell to her death.

In the afterlife, an angel must earn its wings in order to be accepted into heaven and it seems an angel was just what Jane needs to help her figure out who pushed her down the stairs. Kitty is the angel-in-waiting assigned to help Jane figure out who killed her. If Kitty succeeds, she'll finally have entrance into heaven. She's been trying for 200 years to get in; she lived a very colorful life and she hasn't done enough of helping sinners repent, so in order to get admittance into heaven she has to help Jane.

Jane wants to know why she was killed and who did it, because she feels it wasn't her time to go and she can't accept that everyone thinks her death was accidental when she was in fact murdered.

Not only do Kitty and Jane become astral detectives but little by little the two become friends who support one another and together solve the case.
It's a small cast, only seven people, and all the action takes place on one set, but it's refreshing and fun. The dialogue is full of quick wit and humorous imagery. Picture triplicate forms in heaven's waiting room and a cowboy version of "Hamlet."

Earline Wood plays it just right as Jane Ackerly, a talented script writer who's convinced she was murdered and wants to find out whodunit. She earns our sympathy as we cheer her on.

She receives a lot of help -- although not quite of the divine variety -- from Natalie Woodall as Kitty an angel-wannabe trying to erase a lifetime's worth of demerits to gain entrance to heaven.

Jane is brought ahead to the present, three years after the murder, where the same group is gathered. They are all famous film makers with an intense hate love relationship; Jane's husband Hugh (Wayne Visconti) who has married an ambitious ingenue (Lillian Thomson), a heading for middle age leading lady (Myrna Evans), an arrogant director (Evertt Cooper), and Hollywood's reigning gossip columnist (Ted Evans). The five suspects join together to keep the possible murder quiet for reasons of their own but their relationship busts apart with their mutual distrust. Woven through the suspense in humorous, acidic, and revealing comedy is an extraordinary whodunit with a surprise denouement when the murderer is revealed.

Directed by John Krauss, produced by Elyse Skiles with assistance from Kay Wicks, Murder on the Rerun, will be performed Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, September 15, 16 & 17 following a Turkey Dinner with all the trimmings served by the Oswego District OES. Dinner will be served Friday & Saturday at 6:30. With the Sunday Matinee at 3. Tickets for dinner and the show are $15.00 Call (315) 343-6396 for more information about tickets. For the unusual pleasing combination of fine food, comedy, intrigue, and suspense, this is a must!