Post Mortem: SHELF LIFE

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The fictional characters spying on a reader while hiding inside their magic book.

Welcome to Post Mortem! This is where Master Mystery Productions looks back on the performance of its most recent show.

We always believed that books were magical portals into other worlds and other lives. A good book can turn paper characters into real flesh-and-blood people. But what if…what if that could actually happen? What if the characters could leave their pages at the end of the day to get a little “me time?” What does a famous literary figure do after hours? And what would happen is a character forgot who she was? It was those questions that built the foundation for the production we soon titled Shelf Life.

Phileas Fogg (played by Schyler Hall) checks the coast is clear so the characters can start their night off in the bookstore.

This year, we received a special commission: a mom wanted to know if Master Mystery Productions ever created a show to be used as an art credit for homeschool students. Would we be willing to design a production the students could work on? And the answer was: YES. We have never shied away from teaching the art of theatre to newcomers and adding more voices to the theatrical universe. Shelf Life was specially written and created with the students in mind, giving them a show that didn’t baby them but allowed them opportunities to put their creative spin on the script. We didn’t want the show to be overrun by veteran performers with tons more experience. We kept auditions closed to the kids only and pulled our design team directly from the invested students. This way, the kids had the agency they needed to create, dream, design, and build. MMP brought in some of our legacy artists as mentors to the students in areas such as Voice and Accent, Scenic Painting, Makeup, Props and Set Dressing, and Costume. They simple coached and guided the students with additional professional insight into making designs practical for theatre. The students did all the designing themselves. We want to thank Calvin Johnson, Devanne Fredette, Olivia Holm, Janis Kunz, and Beth Sparks-Jacques for sharing their expertise with these kids.

A new character (Kaylee Erb) emerges from the book, but she has forgotten who she is. King Arthur christens her INH, or Insert Name Here.

We returned to a favorite venue–our beloved Red Rock Books–to stage this unique show. Through a magic, giant book, our cast of paper characters, marked with annotations and, if you’re unlucky enough to be a character in a play, highlighter smudges, tumble into the bookstore to have free reign after the doors are locked and the staff go home. A little stretch and de-stress before the next shift. But through the book comes a newcomer with no memory of who she is. Readers aren’t reading her book. And if we don’t figure out who she really is…poof. Gone. She will no longer exist. After some literal poking and prodding from Alice, Peter Pan, and Sherlock Holmes, along with some jibes and jabs courtesy of the others, the newly rechristened INH (stands for Insert Name Here) manages to convince most of them to attempt the impossible: To work together as fictional characters to discover her identity.

“Maybe she’s a mermaid! A…land mermaid?”
Sherlock Holmes (Reegan Hall), Alice (Emmy Griffith), and Peter Pan (Vincent Allen) examine INH to try and figure out if she’s from a book.
After renaming INH, King Arthur (Wyatt Pate) charges off to wage war on a board game. HUZZAH!
Juliet Capulet (Olivia Erb) is the de facto leader of the characters and doesn’t take kindly to INH’s pleas for help.

As the characters part to start their evenings off and discuss who INH might be, the audience was broken into four groups to rotate around Red Rock Books. Guided by our wonderful crew (Gavin Pate, Brax Curran, Devanne Fredette, and Daniel Stallings), each group would stop at one of four stations around the store and watch the characters play, gossip, and remember information they may have gleaned about our forgotten character. Was she a dimplomat from faraway lands? What could one of her siblings have to do with pumperknickel? How many names could start with the letter M anyway? Along the way, laughs were abundant as the characters even got to improv some extra chaos. Did you hear about Nancy Drew and Sherlock? Can you really win Clue by building an army in the royal bathroom? You never know what clues you’ll pick up on your trip around the store.

King Arthur uses the grail to roll his dice.
Sherlock and King Arthur have a bit of game time to themselves. That is, if Arthur actually knew how to play the game correctly.
Alice finds one way to silence Peter while he, she, and Dorothy Gale (Daphne Berry) engage in some play time.
It’s a little bit of a tense tea time between Juliet and Jane Eyre (Journey Curran) as Jules doesn’t want to help INH.
Phileas Fogg and Mina Harker (Callie Bennett) helpfully–or perhaps unhelpfully–try to suggest all the different names INH could have. How many start with the letter M anyway?

But schemes are afoot as INH tries to ambush the characters into helping her. If they pool their knowledge, maybe they can recover her true name and memories. After a snarky argument with Juliet and trying to break up the chaos of betting on if Juliet or King Arthur would win in a fight, it’s up to the cool logic of Sherlock Holmes to calm the chaos and deduce the truth. With a little help on clues provided live by the audience (and ably managed by actress Reegan Hall with clever, off-the-cuff improv) and a wayward reader, the truth of INH’s missing identity is uncovered!

Juliet and King Arthur argue over who’s really in charge.
Pooling our knowledge.

We had truly wonderful audiences all four performances of Shelf Life, and we are doubly impressed with the skill and professionalism of our young cast and crew who took on the challenge of a play head-on. For many, this was their first bite at live theatre, and we are delighted to say they passed with flying colors. Guests loved the original concept–one guest even commented that it was “genius”–the flawless casting, the brilliant performing, the professional costume, makeup and scenic designs, and so much more. And the kids–our most important clients–had a blast stepping onto their bookstore stage! We are so proud of each and every one of them for the phenomenal work they did on Shelf Life.

Peering out behind the giant book.

Closing night is our traditional awards night. First up was The Skeleton Key Award for Service Above and Beyond, our company’s oldest award. Each plaque is designed to uniquely reflect the show it was made for, making the Skeleton Key Award a symbol of an individual putting their unique heart and soul into a Master Mystery Production, going above and beyond their assigned jobs in the show to make it the best it can be. They are inspirations to us in the company, and they remain celebrated in our programs and on our website for years to come. Congratulations Journey Curran and Vincent Allen for winning the Skeleton Key Award for Shelf Life!

Awards for Shelf Life
Congratulations Journey!
Congratulations Vincent!

Following the Skeleton Key, we presented the coveted Diamond Mask Awards for Excellence in Performance. Voted by audiences, guests select their nominees for the award based on the performances they liked best. The actors with the most votes win. On their first win, they receive a special diamond pin and subsequent wins will receive a diamond chain to create a cascade of diamonds. Four people won the award for Shelf Life. Congratulations to Wyatt Pate, Reegan Hall, Journey Curran, and Callie Bennett for your Diamond Mask-winning performances!

Wyatt Pate didn’t know he struck gold when he pulled the (paper) sword from the stone and got crowned King Arthur. Silly is the head that wears the crown as Wyatt perfectly captured our king’s steadfast commitment to being royal, his hilarious proclamations at the drop of a hat, his need to charge and take charge, his fondess for Excalibur, and his inability to understand how to play a simple board game like Clue. Wyatt’s infectious energy onstage garnered big laughs from the crowds and his fellow actors, his hysterical improv during “Game Time” worthy of its own sitcom. As such, Wyatt burst into history by breaking a longtime record of the most votes ever received in a live production with an astounding 101 votes from the audiences. Congratulations Wyatt on your historic first Diamond Mask Award for Excellence in Performance! Huzzah!
Reegan Hall’s studious Sherlock Holmes was a fabulous foil to the craziness of King Arthur and the chaos of all the other fictional characters. Capturing the spirit of such an illustrious name in mystery fiction is never an easy task, but Reegan accomplished it with the ease and skill of a veteran performer…even with this being her first show! Her ability to portray Holmes’ painstaking eye for detail, passion for puzzle solving, and exhaustion at royal antics won her many fans over the show’s run. Her scene playing Clue with King Arthur was touted by many as a favorite. Reegan’s skill for thinking on her feet allowed her to volley with royal nuisances and guide the audience through the finale with true charm. It’s never easy having to directly interact with the crowd, but Reegan handled it like a pro. A stupendous Sherlock Holmes from deerstaker hat to toe. Audiences agreed and awarded Reegan her first Diamond Mask Award for Excellence in Performance. Congratulations!
Journey Curran had a lot on her teatime plate having to play the level-headed Jane Eyre when you have agents of chaos like King Arthur, Juliet, Peter Pan, and Mina Harker all around you. The calm and collected governess at Thornfield Hall may seem like an innocuous character, but not in Journey’s skilled hands where she captured a secret love for gossip and a composure just a shade threadbare. After all, she’s the only one who keeps Juliet from flying to a rage. Jane’s hilarious grapple to keep the crazy cart on the tracks (from improvised breathing routines, mantras, and shuffling the mischeivous Peter Pan to different charetakers) had us in stitches. Did she really call Jay Gatsby a showboat? Scandalous! And her teasing of Juliet’s secret crush on Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice always earned a giggle. Journey’s ability to balance the prim and proper with the sneaky and sassy made her a crowd favorite, and she takes home her first Diamond Mask Award for Excellence in Performance for the role. She also makes history as only the third person to win three awards at a single production. Bravo!
Callie Bennett instinctively knew Mina Harker would be a perfect fit for her, and we agreed. Mina’s sass and sarcasm make her a delightful foil to the strait-laced characters like Jane Eyre and Phileas Fogg. We called Mina an “agent of chaos” who delighted in the mytsery, madness, and mischief brought about by INH’s sudden appearance and amnesia. After all, it shook up the day for her. Callie caught this version of Mina’s sly smirk and snark to a T, infusing her with a cool, tough, goth energy befitting a part-vampire heroine from Dracula. With a quick wit and quicker tongue, Mina could cut down any character’s tirade, and Callie perfectly captured Mina’s willingness to stir the pot for some added drama to her day. Audiences appreciated Callie’s take and awarded her with her first Diamond Mask Award for Excellence in Performance. Congrats, Callie!

Creating a production from scratch and putting on a show takes a lot of hard work and dedication. And your first show is the most frightening one of all. You haven’t developed your personal routine yet. You are battling with stage fright. You are trying to understand the schedule of running a show. It’s a steep learning curve. And this production was special in many ways, being closed to just a single class of students. The kids of Shelf Life embraced the exciting (and nerve-wracking) challenge of producing a show with vigor (as vigorously as the H must be pronounced in INH). We designed the show to allow the students the authority and freedom to make Shelf Life their own. When it came time to award Special Commendations–a certificate of gratitude given by MMP for outstanding acts–we realized that ALL the students should be awarded. So we did. For the first time in MMP history, the entire cast and crew members Brax Curran, Gavin Pate, and Devanne Fredette were awarded Special Commendations from MMP founder and director of Shelf Life Daniel Stallings to recognize the amazing efforts they put into the production. Congratulations to our Special Commendation superstars!

Congratulations, everyone!

We closed with another honor that night. At Master Mystery Productions, we have the MMP Hall of Fame, which serves to recognize long-standing artists at the company who devote years of their time, energy, and creativity to the betterment of MMP as a whole. These artists often fill multiple roles, have won multiple awards, and have generated iconic work in the fields of acting, technical theatre, and beyond. Without them, MMP would be nothing. So each year, we try to honor individual members of the company by inducting them into the Master Mystery Productions Hall of Fame. We are honored this year to induct Beth Sparks-Jacques into the MMP Hall of Fame in 2024!

Beth Sparks-Jacques has been a member of MMP since she first appeared as a Chorus member in our murder mystery opera, Exit Prima Donna, in Spring 2018. From the start, her experience and talent with costume design, stemming from a long, fruitful professional career with envious credits, proved invaluable to capture the glamour and magic of an opera company in 1899. As such, we awarded her with the Skeleton Key Award for Service Above and Beyond. She continued to blossom as a performer, earning larger roles and more accolades. In 2019, she delivered an iconic portrayal of the living marble statue of Pallas Athena in Lenore Nevermore. In 2020, she played Lucy in Woman in the Walls before lockdown, where she also delivered one of our Top 4 costume design schemes in MMP history with her stylish knitwear. During our digital-only lockdown period, Beth futher proved how valuable she was to us with stunning performances as Witch_Plz in #MurderoftheMonth and voicing three characters in three different episodes of Regions Beyond. Due to this commitment, we awarded Beth the 2020 Founder’s Award, which we presented to her in person in 2021. For the 2021 season, Beth triumphed again as school headmistress Honoria Whitcombe in Mum’s the Word and returned to live performance in a smashing, hysterical performance as Georgia Georgson in November’s production of Who’s Who?, a come-as-you’re-not costume party mystery. Her performance as Georgia earned her a Diamond Mask Award for Excellence in Performance. She has won additional theatrical honors including the 2020 Firecracker Award and 2021 Florence Green Production Award from the Community Light Opera and Theatre Association. She returned to MMP in 2024 in Shelf Life as one of our Educating Theatre Artists providing assistance and education in Costume Design to our students, even lending some beautiful vintage costume pieces to use during the production. Her gifts and her willingness to share them quickly earmarked her as a legendary member of the company, and when she surprised us by attending the closing night of Shelf Life, we returned the favor with a surprise of our own. Congratulations Beth on being inducted into the MMP Hall of Fame!

Congratulations, Beth! Welcome to the MMP Hall of Fame!

We wonder if anyone was curious why there was no Founder’s Award mention at the end of Shelf Life as it was the end of year show. That’s because our Founder’s Award recipients would receive their awards as a Christmas gift. 2024 itself was a very different season for us as we took a hiatus to recharge for a big anniversary season next year. As such, MMP only produced one show all year. Originally, we weren’t going to present the Founder’s Award without viable candidates. But then we took a second look at Shelf Life and the local theatre season as a whole.

Margit and Michael Stallings have worked quiety and diligently in the background of many MMP and local shows. Margit is a veteran costumer extraordinaire whose ability to create and craft exquisite and technical costume pieces and props borders on magic. Michael is a hands-on, experienced builder and craftsman whose tool knowledge (and arsenal) is vast as his talent to create anything from pirate ships to a giant enchanted book. Much of their work is seen in theatre shows across the city in ways many people won’t realize. For the 2024 season alone, these two marvelous artisans crafted legendary work.

Margit hand-crafted–with the aid of Michael–elaborate heapieces and fairy crowns for CLOTA’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Michael was an eleventh hour superhero who came to fix a broken set piece for Midsummer mere minutes before the doors opened for a performance. For Shelf Life, they went above and beyond. Margit sewed and executed young designer Kaylee Erb’s costuming vision and making everything from King Arthur’s cape and tabard, Alice’s bunny slippers, altering and decorating any number of dresses, and more. Michael built the giant book for the characters and moved it into the bookstore for us. When troubles emerged with transportation, they volunteered their time to move chairs to the venue. Always on hand to help, we came to rely on their patience, their experience, and their ability to solve problems as a rock during any crazy moment in theatre.

The Founder’s Award can only be awarded once. It’s a prize difficult to earn and an act that cannot be repeated. Many of our amazing members could win it handily during a regular, fuller season. With this extra special season, with the entire influx of brand new MMP artists just cutting their teeth on theatre, we reflected on those individuals who were rocks for us to lean on in times both triumphant and troubled. This season, we felt their presence and their work stronger than ever before. Be it fairy king crown, bunny slipper, or magic book, Margit and Michael made their stamp this season. We couldn’t have finished strong without them. And really, that’s the whole idea. They make history as the first spouses to win the Founder’s Award and the first double champion for a single year. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. For all you do. Merry Christmas, Michael and Margit. And congratulations on being our 2024 Founder’s Award winners!

Awards for 2024. Congratulations Margit and Michael Stallings!

The goal of theatre is to bring people–of all walks of life–together to tell stories. As the muse books have entertained readers for generations, it was our goal to introduce a new generation to these works AND to the magic of making theatre. We know we succeeded when one of our our actors, who naturally had nerves before opening night, concluded the run by saying, “This was so much fun! Thank you for doing this!” Mission accomplished. We brought a dozen new theatre artists into the world, and we are all the richer because of it. We can’t wait to see the new stories this cast of characters will give to us. And we thank the parents, volunteers, venue, and audiences for supporting us bringing Shelf Life to the stage. As King Arthur might so proclaim, “HUZZAH!”

The original cast and crew of Shelf Life.

Master Mystery Productions will return in 2025, out tenth anniversary year, with new shows and new mysteries. We plan to debut a new playwright, have a new production for youth performers, and return to previous venues for a more musical adventure. Watch this space because you never know what to expect from the minds at MMP!

See you next year, everyone!

–Master Mystery Productions

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