''Til Death Do Us Part' comes to Flathead High School stage

Love, marriage and … murder?

Flathead High School Theatre invites all to the most offbeat wedding of the season, where murder takes center stage and all the guests are suspects in their production of “‘Til Death Do Us Part.” The show will be presented at 6:27 p.m. on May 11-12 in the David M. Hashley Theatre at Flathead High School.

Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for children, students and senior citizens. Tickets are available at the FHS Main Office, Photo Video Plus and at the door.

Zookeeper, Leo Lomax, and Lotus Blossom, a herbalist, hope for the perfect wedding day but many of the invited guests are against the two ending up in nuptial bliss. The groom’s wealthy parents believe their son deserves better and the bride’s ex-fiancée still loves her. The Lomax family lawyer has a little something up his sleeve involving a mysterious guest who dies before revealing her true identity. When the lawyer is also murdered, amateur sleuth, Miss Peabody, opens an investigation. Even with the morose distractions the wedding continues, punctuated by the traditional wedding events in which the audience can also participate, such as throwing the bouquet, cutting of the cake and dancing.

As the wedding continues, clues begin to surface. Each cleverly hidden clue leads Miss Peabody a step closer to discovering the cold hearted killer. The list of suspects is long and includes bridesmaids, suave tango instructors, a corny cousin from Big D and the Justice of the Peace. With the audience’s help, all but the killer will live happily ever after.

“We are throwing the tackiest wedding ever,” said director and Acting 2 instructor, Liz Sykora. “‘Til Death Do Us Part’ is an audience interactive murder mystery. The audience will be invited to search for clues during intermission in an ‘escape room’ like atmosphere where they get to be a sleuth. The wedding seems to be doomed from the start, and gets worse when a murder is committed.”

“Everyone who loves a good wedding should come to this show,” added Sykora. “From the traditional wedding activities to wedding cake and punch, we are trying to make the wedding as realistic as possible.” The black box theatre has been transformed into a reception hall complete with round banquet tables donated by the Party Store and during the play the set magically transforms from a tacky wedding to classy reception hall.

“The audience is invited to bring their dancing shoes and be ready to catch the bouquet because this wedding is one to die for,” said Sykora.

The cast and crew is teaming up with the FHS Culinary Arts classes, under the direction of Jennifer Duke, to help complete the wedding atmosphere. As a fundraiser for Braves Catering, the classes will be selling snack plates and punch before the show and cupcakes at intermission. The FHS Prostart team will also be selling raffle tickets for a decorated cake that will be awarded during the production.

This production of “Til Death Do Us Part” is presented by the Acting 2 IB class.

“Acting 2 is our first IB level acting class at FHS. We study acting teachers and methods, present monologues, and then spend a majority of the semester delving right into the process of producing a play,” said Sykora. “And everyone in this class has such wild personalities, in a good way. There are some great character actors and I thought a completely ridiculous, laugh out loud comedy would fit them to a tee.”