Belle Fourche Area Community Theater’s Show Atomic Lobsters From the Center of the Earth by Derek Olson

Enjoy this throwback to classic 50’s ‘B’ movie science fiction! At a remote research base located in Antarctica there are tremors and mysterious disappearances that have caused the base military and scientific personnel to call in the greatest mind in the world! Can he discover the cause behind these catastrophes before it’s too late?

Atomic Lobsters From the Center of the Earth Cast

Atomic Lobsters From the Center of the Earth Creative

Special Thanks

We want to thank Carr Coatings Industrial for creating the amazing lobster claw prop used in the production.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: The Musical Cast

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: The Musical Creative

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: The Musical Credits

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: The Musical is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC.
(www.broadwaylicensing.com)

Belle Fourche Area Community Theater’s Show Charlie’s Masterpiece by Stephanie Bussiere

Charlie always wanted to be the next Picasso or Monet. After quitting her day job to pursue this childhood dream, the pressures of supporting her family members and becoming a successful painter threaten to overwhelm her. Despite doubt and distractions, Charlie must find inspiration from those around her and complete her masterpiece before time runs out.

Historic Homestake Opera House’s Show Dad-Joke Intervention by Wade Bradford

The play opens with a typical living room scene: a good, old-fashioned dad sitting in a comfy chair reading a good, old-fashioned newspaper. However, things quickly take a turn for the absurd when Mrs. Wright, a professional and serious-looking person, enters the room and is subjected to a barrage of cheesy jokes and puns from the dad. As the rest of the family enters, it becomes clear that they’ve called Mrs. Wright in for a “Dad-Joke Intervention.” But will she be able to help? Or is this family doomed to be forever subjected to the dad’s endless supply of terrible jokes?

The Matthews Opera House & Arts Center’s Show Staged Murder by Julie Walkins

Shots are heard and a body is found when the officers arrived at the theater to investigate the tragic event – or is it a comedy of errors as they find themselves upstaged by a variety of suspects who take them on a musical trail to the final curtain.

The Sturgis Arts Council’s Show Lawyer, Lawyer by Bob Naquin

Everyone involved is a bit off kilter in this hilarious murder trial. The prosecutor’s not even a lawyer; the defendant, Ms. Slayer, boasts about her crime; the defense counsel asks the most obvious of questions and Judge Judy Moody just now realizes murder isn’t even legal.

Charlie’s Masterpiece Cast

Charlie’s Masterpiece Creative

If you’ve never experienced a live radio play you are in for a treat. This show is a throwback to the days of old where stories only came from the radio. This show isn’t all about the stage, costumes, set, etc. It is all about the voice and the story. Come enjoy live music and sound effects that will set the stage. You won’t want to miss this classic story told in a brand-new, classic way.

Sherlock Holmes & The West End Horror Cast

Sherlock Holmes & The West End Horror Creative

Sherlock Holmes & The West End Horror Credits

Produced by special arrangement with Playscripts, Inc.
(www.playscripts.com)

Photos taken on location at the Historic 1880 Train in Hill City

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express Cast

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express Creative

About the Author

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express premiered at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, NJ on March 14, 2017. Directed by Emily Mann, the production featured Alan Corduner, Veanne Cox, Julie Halston and Max von Essen.

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express Adapted for the stage by Ken Ludwig

Ken Ludwig has had six productions on Broadway and eight in London’s West End. His 34 plays and musicals are staged around the world and throughout the United States every night of the year.

His first play, Lend Me a Tenor, won two Tony Awards and was called “one of the classic comedies of the 20th century” by The Washington Post. Crazy For You is currently running on London’s West End. It was previously on Broadway for five years, on the West End for three, and won the Tony and Olivier Awards for Best Musical.

In addition, he has won the Edwin Forrest Award for Contributions to the American Theatre, two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Helen Hayes Awards, the Charles MacArthur Award, and the Edgar Award for Best Mystery of the Year. His other plays include Moon Over Buffalo, Leading Ladies, Baskerville, Sherwood, Twentieth Century, Dear Jack, Dear Louise, A Fox on the Fairway, A Comedy of Tenors, The Game’s Afoot, Shakespeare in Hollywood and Murder on the Orient Express. They have starred, among others, Alec Baldwin, Carol Burnett, Kristen Bell, Tony Shaloub, Joan Collins and Henry Goodman.

His book How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare, published by Penguin Random House, won the Falstaff Award for Best Shakespeare Book of the Year, and his essays on theatre are published in the Yale Review. He gives the Annual Ken Ludwig Playwriting Scholarship at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, and he served on the Board of Governors for the Folger Shakespeare Library for ten years. His first opera, Tenor Overboard, opened at the Glimmerglass Festival in July 2022. His most recent world premieres were Lend Me A Soprano and Moriarty, and his newest plays and musicals include Pride and Prejudice Part 2: Napoleon at Pemberley and Lady Molly of Scotland Yard.

His plays include commissions from the Agatha Christie Estate, the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Old Globe Theatre, and the Bristol Old Vic. For more information visit www.kenludwig.com.

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express Credits

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc.
www.concordtheatricals.com

Break a Leg: A Night of One-Acts Shows

Winner of numerous play competitions, this is a bright and breezy farce about a very calm family of very odd habits. Sixteen year old Daisy comes across Spike, a burglar, rifling through the contents of a desk. “You’ll never find anything in that desk. We never can.” Daisy would just as soon have Spike take her sister’s money. She’s saving for a guitar and the whole family dreads the results. Then Ada suggests that Mother ought to meet Spike as she’s writing a mystery and wants to get to know a good burglar. But Mother is full of criticisms: “Why aren’t you wearing gloves? What would you give for an alibi? Where did you park your car?” A lively, extremely funny concoction.

Those Tasty Tulips tells the story of a raccoon that only Lucy can hear and for some reason seems to be from New York, even though they are nowhere near there. The Raccoon is helping himself to Lucy’s prized tulips and getting on her last nerve which attracts the attention of the nosy neighbor, Alice. Those Tasty Tulips was first produced at the Black Hills Community Theater in Rapid City, South Dakota on August 26, 2023. The show was directed by Trevor Ryan as part of a 24 Hour Play Challenge.

Guy has a weekly dinner with his parents, brother, and sister-in-law. This week however he has been detained because he saw something he shouldn’t have. Even when he thinks he made it to the safety of his parent’s house he is followed by Serene, a hitwoman, who he saw murder a man. As she decides what to do with him, Guy’s family interrupts and not wanting a bloodbath, Serena plays along as Guy’s date. What follows is one of the worst dinner dates ever, and not because Guy is with a contract killer, but because of his own family.

Break a Leg: A Night of One-Acts Cast

Break a Leg: A Night of One-Acts Creative

Nobody Sleeps Credits

Nobody Sleeps is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

If you can stay the whole night at the only truly haunted house in the world, millionaire Frederick Loren will give you $10,000. That’s what kicks off the story of House on Haunted Hill. There the guests will have to survive their host, each other and maybe even the ghosts who inhabit the house.

This cheesy, spooky stage play delighted audiences in October 2023.

House on Haunted Hill Cast

House on Haunted Hill Creative

Belle Fourche Area Community Theater’s Show Couch Potato by Patrick Gabridge

Belle Fourche Area Community Theater’s contribution to the night of one-acts is Couch Potato by Patrick Gabridge. Couch Potato tells the story of Eric, the ultimate slacker, but his goal of remaining motionless in front of the TV is in serious jeopardy. His sister and fiancé move out and leave him behind in the apartment, and the two newlyweds moving in aren’t keen to share their space with a complete stranger. Can Eric use his wits to stay rooted, or is he about to be yanked from his chosen resting place? A fast-paced comedy of inertia.

The Matthews Opera House & Arts Center’s Show Talent Show Fail by Ian McWethy & Carrie McCrossen

The town of Holly Springs has terrible roads, and the citizens are counting on the money raised from this year’s talent show to fix them. Unfortunately, the one guy who has a talent wants to do taxes onstage this year. As the host, Tina is determined the show must go on, even as duets are being hastily converted to solos, angsty teens are reading upsetting poetry and everyone’s being hounded by a heckler. Will the town of Holly Springs get their act together or are they doomed to a future of potholes and unrehearsed roller-skating?

Historic Homestake Opera House’s Show Superhero Sanitarium by Scott Haan

Lois Lancaster is a big-city journalist writing about the current state of mental health facilities. Her research takes her to a hospital populated with a unique group of quirky inmates who imagine they are crime-fighting superheroes. Speed Freak thinks he can run at incredible speeds, while enthusiastic Dim Bulb thinks he has the ability to turn off lights with his brain. Mental thinks she can read minds, despite being prone to sudden outbursts of bizarre non-sequiturs. Kevin, much less quirky and flamboyant than the other inmates, doesn’t embarrass himself with a ridiculous code name or costume…at least, not initially. Dr. Gail Eisner appears to be a kindly hospital administrator, a steady influence needed to effectively run a madhouse like this one. At first Lois finds their elaborate superhero fantasies to be an entertaining diversion, the wild delusions of unstable minds, until something unusual happens that makes her wonder.

Getting Our Acts Together: A Night of Northern Hills One-Acts Cast

Getting Our Acts Together: A Night of Northern Hills One-Acts Creative

Getting Our Acts Together: A Night of Northern Hills One-Acts Credits

Produced by special arrangement with Playscripts, Inc.
(www.playscripts.com)