Maumelle Players to present dinner theater Friday, Saturday

By Carol Rolf

LITTLE ROCK — If the thought of dinner, a show and supporting a good cause at the same time appeals to you, the Maumelle Players have the ticket.

The Maumelle Players’ current production, B-I-N-G-O Spells Murder by Robert Mattson, will continue at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday atthe Maumelle Wellness Center, 550 Edgewood Drive in Maumelle.

The play opened Friday and was also performed Saturday. They bill it as an “interactive dinner theater mystery/comedy.”

Tickets are $25 and may be purchased online at www.maumelleplay ers.org or at the Maumelle Senior Wellness Center, which will receive a portion of the proceeds from the play.

The event will also include a three-course meal. The courses will be served at various times during the play. Roger Frangieh, head chef, said the meal will consist of Greek salad, pork loin with cream apricot sauce, Mediterranean rice, honey-dilled carrots and a green vegetable. Dessert will be a sheet cake donated by Mama’s Manna. Frangieh, who worked in the restaurant business for more than 30 years, said the cake would be decorated like a bingo card.

Eloise Kalb, who said she has 50 years’ experience in theater, directs the play. Kalb holds a bachelor’s degree from Arkansas State TeachersCollege (now known as the University of Central Arkansas) and a master’s degree from Ole Miss. A retired teacher, she taught both high school and junior college classes.

Kalb said this is the acting troupe’s second dinner theater production since the Maumelle Players formed about four years ago. She said, “We did one last fall: A Wedding to Kill For. It played to overflow crowds.”

In the current production, which should run about 90 minutes, Kalb said the audience would actually play bingo. “We’ll serve the salad, the entrée and then the dessert, and in between it all, they will play bingo,” she said.

The setting for B-I-N-G-O Spells Murder is a fundraiser for the Our Lady of Almost Lost Causes Orphanage.

According to information from the play booklet, “Father O’Sullivan is desperate. But who wouldn’t be? The bank is about to foreclose on his church buildings and orphanage. He’s got young people struggling with questions of love, developers struggling to turn the house of God into the Condos of God, a gangster struggling with the English language, and a bookkeeper who’s just a struggle for everyone. Plus, he’s hosting a bingo night as a last chance to raise enough money to get him out of this mess.

“So, what happens when his bookkeeper is killed and the money is stolen? It’s time for Father O’Sullivan to ‘forgive-andforget’ nothing as he struggles to solve the crime.”

Cast members include, in order of appearance:

◊Victor Werner, who appears as Father Patrick O’Sullivan.Werner, who is director of emergency and crisis services for Little Rock Community Mental Health, said he had “some acting in high school” prior to joining the Maumelle Players. He directed the troupe’s first production, the Agatha Christie play, The Unexpected Guest.

◊Erica Monday, who plays Jennifer Boyleston, fiancée of Greg. Monday, who is as a physicians’ liaison at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, has appeared in several other local productions.

◊Mark Bugg, who appears as Greg Arlington, fiancé of Jennifer. An electrical engineer, Bugg said he plays “the dandy” in B-IN-G-O Spells Murder. He was also in the first dinner theater production, playing the groom.

◊BJ Sanders, who appears as Judy Tremont, the bookkeeper. Saunders is a registered nurse at UAMS.

◊Jeremy Day, who plays Joey Verricione, the gangster. Day, who works at Wal-Mart, has been accepted to UAMS School of Radiology. He also has background in theater: He graduated from UCA with a major in filmmaking and a minor in theater.

◊Marion Scott, who appears as Bunny DeVaine, a New York interior designer. Scott, who is retired, said she volunteers at various events in the community. “I did a little acting in college,” she said.

◊John Bowden, who plays Claude Chandham, the spineless husband of Bunny. Calling himself “semi-retired,” Bowden is a customer service representative for Central Flying Service and is working on his private pilot’s license.

Additional crew members include Sayra Crandall, hair and makeup, and Samia Frangieh, stagehand and rehearsal assistant.

The Maumelle Players is a nonprofit community theater group focused on promoting the theatrical arts in Maumelle. This is their fifth production. The group tries to present two productions per year.

River Valley Ozark, Pages 140, 142 on 05/11/2008