Grab your top hats, monocles, steam-powered machines, and your spirit of adventure! We’re ready to soar into 2023 with a brand new production this spring. And soar we will aboard our very own steampunk airship packed with intrigue (and libations). Two reporters from the States are embarking on a globe-trotting adventure that sweeps them unexpectedly into the skies. But with mystery and mayhem afoot, they are about to discover in our 33rd Master Mystery Production…

THE SKY’S THE LIMIT

Flying high above the Atlantic Ocean, the fantastical airship, Vesper, sails the skies with two reporters embarking on the adventure of a lifetime. Charlotte Collins and her rival wordsmith Louisa Cahill have both been sponsored by their newspapers to try and beat the Jules Verne Standard by circling around the world in less than eighty days. The accolades that awaits the woman who beats the record (and outraces her rival) will be legion. But just when the race is at its fiercest and both Charlotte and Louisa miss a critical travel connection, the two ladies independently accept the help of the quirky Sir Hugo Featherton for a ride in his self-designed steampunk airship across the Atlantic. However, not long after take-off, the veteran reporters sense something amiss. Why does Sir Hugo know so much about their travels and itineraries? Why is the ship they were supposed to take still in the harbor? Why won’t their editors respond to their urgent questions? Charlotte and Louisa will have to join forces and unite their individual talents to tackle a mystery in the clouds with big secrets, big money, and bigger risks. The sky’s the limit when it comes to what people are capable of, but our intrepid leading ladies will discover just how far some are willing to go to keep their secrets locked up tight.

First commissioned by inaugural Skeleton Key Award winner Jeannie Johnson for the annual Red Hat gathering being held in Bakersfield this year, The Sky’s the Limit was asked to be a steampunk mystery without a murder, so we devised a sky-surfing adventure high in the clouds. Inspired by works by Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, the show blends science, fantasy, mystery, and thriller in a fun, funny, and fantastical concoction. Eccentric characters, gorgeous costumes, and more twists and turns than gears in clockwork keep this play soaring swiftly to its shocking conclusion. Will Charlotte and Louisa be able to figure out what is happening onboard the Vesper? Or will they encounter more…lively machines than they first expected?

Two-time Diamond Mask Award winner Leslie Blake playing Louisa Cahill, five-time Diamond Mask winner Olivia Holm playing Charlotte Collins, and Diamond Mask winner Lex Phillips playing Sir Hugo Featherton headline the cast with a delightful blend of humor, heart, and raw emotion. Sarcastic quips, sharp observations, and steely nerves make up this trio of personalities who all seem to have a different agenda regarding the mystery and madness aboard the Vesper.

Diamond Mask Winner Ed Kramer, Libby Mitchell, three-time Diamond Mask Winner Jonathan Blair, newcomer Rachael West, Allison Mitchell, and newcomer Murolo Patchin perform as a deliciously twisted Ensemble whose motives and machinations range from hilarious to malevolent. Paired with Janis Kunz and Daniel Stallings’ costume design and Olivia Holm’s stunning makeup design, these actors are sure to leave an impression you won’t soon forget.

Following our opening at the Red Hat event, we are bringing the show to Ridgecrest for one single weekend only at Moe’s Music, our home for Closer to Heaven and Close Encounters of the Hairy Kind 2022 Revival last year. With dazzling new lighting effects designed by Tristan Risden, a more realized set, and secret details hidden everywhere, the Moe’s Music production of our steampunk wonderland is going to be a treat for the eyes. Join us in your steampunk finest if you so choose and enjoy our first show of the 2023 season. It’ll be a blast (in more ways than one.).

The Sky’s the Limit, a steampunk adventure written and directed by Daniel Stallings, performs Friday, April 28 and Saturday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Music (207 W. Ridgecrest Blvd.). Tickets are $20 each and are sold at Red Rock Books or at the door. Doors open at 7 p.m.

Join us for an evening of steam-powered surprises and find our how far our imaginations can stretch. Because at MMP, when it comes to creativity…

THE SKY’S THE LIMIT

We’ll see you in the skies very soon!

–Master Mystery Productions