"Everything from a bumbling Irish cop to a bumbling 1940s gumshoe -- men acting like children and marching bands. Everything is included." This is how USAO student Robert Story describes his production of Murder is Bad, But Monday Can Kill You at USAO Aug. 6-7.

 

 

The production is scheduled nightly at 7:30 in the Davis Hall Theatre on the USAO campus. Tickets are available at the door for $10. Story is directing the play for upper division level credit at USAO as part of the Problems in Production class at the college. He is a drama major from Chickasha.

 

"The play is going to be a fantastic performance. We have found a script that is generally used only by community theatre. We have brought the material to a higher level to where it can be considered art," Story said.

 

"This play is just meant to be fun. Everybody will enjoy it. The humor doesn't go above PG and can be fun for the whole family."

 

The production follows 'Sam Spade wannabe' Harry Monday, who is on his latest and hottest case. Monday is on the case of a triple murder at Shady Glen Psychiatric Annex. Only after he arrives does he find that all the inmates have multiple personalities. And the three murder victims are all the same guy.

 

"Clues are falling like cigarettes in the boys' bathroom," Monday says as he soon finds himself committed — and not just to the case. "Just like many of our home lives, porting a mental institution isn't much of a stretch," Story said.

 

"As I understand it," Monday complains, "one guy can murder another one with an accomplice and two witnesses and they can all be the same person." The whodunit is a tribute to the film noir private eye flicks of the forties.

 

The play is written by Houston playwright Pat Cook. Cook has more than 125 plays published by nine publishers. Several of these have been translated into Dutch and German.

 

Cast members include Adam Bryant, a music major from Oklahoma City; Alexandra Bohannon, an undeclared major from Chickasha; Callison Vaughn, a drama major from Lawton; Holden Howell, a business major from Lindsay; Jefferson Gray, a psychology major from Chickasha; Kyle Reed, an English major from Chickasha; Mathieu Lane, a 2008 USAO graduate from Chickasha, and Whitney Whitaker, a drama major from Chickasha. Sachelle Story, an English major from Amber, is the assistant director and Adam Bryant serves as the stage manager.