Game shows usually deliver big cash prizes to lucky contestants not rack up body counts.
That is not the case in the play “Who’s Dying to be a Millionaire” being performed at Ecole Okotoks Junior High School (OJHS) this weekend.
OJHS instructor Sara Moir said the similarity of the title of the play to a real life game show is not a coincidence.
She said it’s their own raucous spin on Who Wants to be a Millionaire — but with a deadly twist.
The production deals with what happens when the hottest game show in town is thrown into chaos when a poised and confident contestant is about to answer a challenging question suddenly drops dead to the floor.
Then later another contestant is stabbed in the back and murdered before she can even make it to her podium.
Logically with this being a junior high show the action in “Who’s Dying to be a Millionaire” is played for laughs and not gruesome shocks.
Moir explained it’s a funny play but not one filled with slapstick physical comedy.
“It’s not a show with people falling all over each other so much,” she said. “But the characters do work off each other. They’re interrupting each other and they have this kind of wild interaction going. It’s a murder mystery but it’s very light hearted.”
Moir explained overseeing the show has been a shared effort between three OJHS staff members. Moir and Stephanie Jacques have been the directors while Melissa Rea has been acting as the technical director and stage manger.
One of the focal points of the chaos that develops in the play is the somewhat oily game show host Reginald Smarmy, played by Grade 9 student Will Car. The young actor said he’s not patterning his character after any real life person, but rather a stereotypical talking head.
“I am playing it just as a sort of cliché kind of TV host,” Car said.
Just over a week out from the show’s April 8 debut, the performer admitted some of the rough patches in the show were still being smoothed out.
“There’s still the occasional tripping over lines but we’ve still got a week and I think we’ll be fine by the time the show starts,” he said.
Also starring in “Who‘s Dying to be a Millionaire” is Grade 8 student Tessa Waddell. She plays the game show’s stage manager, Denny Perkins, who tries her hand at detective work once she discovers the first dead person on set.
Waddell said her character goes though a very rough time during the production.
“She experiences a lot of trauma I think, because at the beginning nobody believes her when she talks about a murder,” she said. “She’s trying to tell these people that someone is definitely dead but they’re really absorbed with their show.”
Dealing with on-set tragedy is a real challenge for her obviously straight-laced character Waddell explained.
“My character is very business like,” she said. “She’s got her three-piece suit with a skirt.”
For Waddell, being part of a school theatre production, this is her second at OJHS, is not a passing fancy.
“I’m definitely into the fine arts,” she said. “I think it’s going be my career choice.”
The Grade 8 actress said she could definitely see herself participating in the well-respected Main Stage program at Foothills Composite High School. Before that day arrives people can sample Waddell’s acting chops in “Who’s Dying to Be a Millionaire” at Ecole Okotoks Junior High School.
The curtain rises Friday and Saturday, April 8 and 9, at 7 p.m. A Sunday matinee will go at 2 p.m. on April 10. Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for adults and a family of four can see the play for just $20. Get tickets in advance by dropping by the school office or by calling 403- 938-4426.
