Who committed Murder on the Dance Floor?
Heritage Park delivers stellar performance
Record Photo- Kate Miller
By Christopher Miller
NORTH BEND, PA – In front of a sold out crowd of 150-something people, The Greater Renovo Area Heritage Park delivered a slam-bang performance in its now-annual and extremely popular dinner theater series at the Chapman Township Fire Company Saturday night.
Written and directed by Diana Welshans, ‘Murder on the Dance Floor’ was set at Flo’s Diner in the midst of the tail fin, greased back hair, and poodle skirt era of the 1950s. In the middle of the town’s Annual Dance-Off, a murder was committed.
The 3-act + epilogue show started off by feeding beer to a cat (no live cat was present or harmed for this show). Pastor Peter (played by Dennis Smith) apprehensively gives Fluffy the drink and sets him down. Fluffy, an overweight cat with an apparent drinking problem, will make another appearance later on in the show.
The main setting of the show is inside Flo’s Wide Swing Bar and Grill. Flo Higgins, a sassy cook with a temper (played by Patty Lacy) spends most of her time behind the grill flipping burgers and yelling at patrons.
Next making an appearance is Penny (played by Sarah Nestor), an 18-year old girl who is very embarrassed and distressed just happens to be pregnant with a much older man’s baby – Dallas Anthony (played by Thomas Homicker), who pretty much owns everything in town and employs much of their small town in his meat packing plant. Jane Hodges (played by Martha Sykes), enters as to console her daughter Penny.
Pastor Peter also is not a fan of Dallas as he purchased a building that Peter was looking at for his church congregation, or “flock” as he calls them. Dallas also fired Peter’s father from the meat packing plant and never forgave him. At the very beginning, Flo’s and Peter’s hatred towards Dallas is evident which leads the audience to already suspect that they would be behind an upcoming murder.
Strutting her stuff on to the set next is Crystal (played by Autumn Gavlock). Crystal, who obviously doesn’t care what others think of her, appears in a red dress as she sweeps through the scene asking for someone to “light her,” seductively meaning her cigarette. (You can guess what type of person Crystal is made out to be here).
Detective Blade Gunner (played by Cameron Sims) enters the restaurant to sit and read the morning paper as a raucous ensues over Crystal wanting a light for her cigarette. Blade then begins to discuss that there has been “murder talk” since Dallas Anthony is the father of a significantly younger woman’s baby. Crystal admits that she once had a crush on Dallas, but she “didn’t like his hair” and he was always such a mess.
Blade is later called away by his girlfriend, Doll Rivers (played by Sandy Eyster), who tells him that the police want his help when a plot to murder Dallas Anthony is unveiled, if he hasn’t been murdered already.
Act 2 began with Flo reminiscing about her days as teenager with other local teens in her bar and grill. The teens, played by Lola English, Matti Mason, Elizabeth Nestor, Angela Harding, Margaret Riggle, and Tracy Shady, pry into Flo’s personal life when she mentions an old fling, Humphrey Wimple (played by Gabriel Kane) and his Indian Ace motorcycle. Yes, Flo had fallen for the “leader of the pack” who crashed into a chicken farm, was humiliated by everyone in school, and had moved away.
To add on to more reasons to dislike Dallas Anthony, Flo offers Crystal some “side work” and Crystal explodes, telling her she does not “turn tricks.” Right away Flo tells her to “get her mind out of the gutter” but Crystal informs Flo that Dallas already told her about wanting to start a whorehouse in town. After a brief exchanging of words, Flo admits that she’s been hearing that Dallas will be “moving away” and that “he’ll be gone alright, but sooner than you think.”
In walks Rebecca (played by Grace O’Brien), a rough around the edges type, bittered by the sudden death of her husband, and President of any and every club in their small town. She is visibly upset with Flo and her rude remarks…and her Shoo-Fly Pie. It is believed that Rebecca has a crush on Hudson.
This marked the half-way point in the show.
In the third act, Bucktail Music Teacher Brandon Kahley takes the stage to sing “Pretty Women” as all of the teens (played by Lola English, Matti Mason, Elizabeth Nestor, Clinton County Commissioner Angela Harding, Margaret Riggle) swoon over him and practically rip him to shreds. and The epilog brought a few surprises. Mary George ( played by Mary George Rhone) a snappy, energetic restaurateur oversees everything at Flo’s Diner, Blade and Crystal got married and has a third child on the way and Humphrey Wimpole comes back looking for Flo’s hand in marriage.
In an effort to help the Renovo Heritage Park sell tickets to their next show and to not allow our readers to just buy a newspaper and read about the show the following day, I leave you with these questions to ponder: who was murdered? Who committed the crime? Why murder?
After turning the calendar to January of this year, Renovo Heritage Park Board members began to post “teaser” messages on their social media accounts to excite others not only about the show, but the food in particular. The meal consisted of homemade spaghetti and meatballs, made lovingly by Margaret Riggle and six of her volunteer food preppers. This meal was a great 1950s family dinner and was featured in the Better Homes & Gardens 1953 cook book.
Followed by dessert, which was during the time period where Chiffon was all the rage – from desserts to textiles. Strawberry Chiffon pies ( made by Mary George Rhone) were served, along with ice cream (peanut butter sundaes in particular) which was and will always be a fan favorite.
And the people did dine!
At the end of the evening there was a tribute to Dave Barrows, the tech director who gave up his trip to Mardis Gras to direct the students on sound and light. The evening ended with Gabe Kane singing the Locomotion while the cast and crew danced with some of the audience participants.
The cast and crew celebrated their performance with a blast of confetti and then present Diana Welshans with flowers for her outstanding directing and play writing.
•The cast for this year’s performance included Cameron Sims as Blade Gunner, Sandy Eyster as Doll Rivers, Patty Lacy as Flo Higgins, Thomas Homicker as Dallas Anthony, Sarah Nestor as Penny Hodges, Martha Sykes as Jane Hodges, Autumn Gavlock as Crystal Reed, Dennis Smith as Pastor Peter Larvis and Elias, Brandon Kahley as Hudson Rogers, Grace O’Brien as Rebecca Johnson, and Gabriel Kane as Humphrey Wimple.
•Individuals playing teens were Lola English, Matti Mason, Elizabeth Nestor, Clinton County Commissioner Angela Harding and Margaret Riggle.
•Singers were Erica Dorman, Brandon Kahley, Autumn & Mitch Gavlock, Gabriel Kane, , Patty Lacy, and Cameron Sims.
•Tech crew were Dave Barrows, Gigi Balchun, Giada DeMarte, and Evan Hillyer.
•Costume designer was Margaret Riggle.
•Kitchen help crew was Kristy Brooks, Kari Kepler, Margaret Riggle, Ryan Graw, Ava Murnyak, NHS student from Snow Shoe and Mary George Rhone.
•Staff assisting with the event included Deb Clary, Mike Goodling, Charly Kepler and Tracy Shady.
Featuring music, comedy, laughter, and fun, Murder on the Dance Floor was another excellent performance by a group of talented individuals spreading their infectious love of making others laugh.
And don’t worry: if you missed this year’s show, there is another being planned for early August under the calendar title of Teen Murder Mystery Dinner, performance still yet to be determined.
