Murder Under the Big Top closes season for RCHS’s Entertainers of Tomorrow

WEDOWEE – Entertainers of Tomorrow, the drama team at Randolph County High School, finishes their performing season with the spring play – an original murder mystery they call Murder Under the Big Top.

The hour-long drama follows a group of misfit performers in a small traveling circus carnival as they try to figure out who among them killed Reginald, the ringmaster. All of the standard big top performers are on hand in full costume – the tiger tamer, the equestrian trick rider, a magician and his assistant, a mime and circus clowns. Joining them are traditional favorites from the freakshow carnival tent – a sword swallower, fortune teller and human serpent. Every character seems to have a past, a secret and a story to tell. The plot thickens when a second off-stage murder takes place after a major character gets too close to learning the truth.

As always, the students (under the direction of faculty sponsors Brance Taylor and Joshua Horn) created the play from a single idea. They developed the plot, wrote the script, built the set, designed the costumes and followed it through to the final product presented on stage. This endeavor included rehearsing after school five days-per-week and even on Sunday afternoon.

It has been five years or more since EOT presented a murder mystery, so the concept was brand new to the 16-member cast and crew. The cast agrees the part which stands out the most in this play is the irony displayed on stage.

“You have all of these characters in full colorful authentic costumes – characters designed to bring joy – and laughter to ‘children of all ages’ – yet they are dealing with tragedy, mystery and murder,” says junior Gabby Flores. “Nothing you’d expect to see in a circus!” adds Faith Holder. The students hope that audiences will be entertained from the opening monologues to the surprise ending, which of course, has an unexpected twist.

Entertainers of Tomorrow will present Murder Under the Big Top to the public on Thursday, March 17, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $8.

Magician Matthew Hornsby, clown Anzleigh Sims, fortune teller Gabby Flores, sword swallower Aurora Cooper, tiger tamer Zach Fordham, clown Aerial Atkins, magician’s assistant Millie Burnside, clown Ev Bryson and equestrian trick rider Faith Holder are just some of the cast of Murder Under the Big Top.