Vol. I, No. 7: 2. Sounds Around: The Mousetrap, A High Caliber Performance at CVU

                celestial Sirens on Public Radio
    The Vermont singing trio, celestial Sirens, the women's ensemble of Early Music Vermont, appear on the popular Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion on Saturday, April 21st. The group was chosen as one of six finalists from more than 650 entries for the PHC "Talent from Towns Under Two Thousand" contest. ...
    If you didn't catch our DownStreet Sounds Around feature on Early Music Vermont in our very first issue ... click here.
    You can also learn more about Early Music Vermont and celestial Sirens by visiting their web site at www.earlymusicvermont.org.

For those who made the time to take it in, The CVU Drama Club performance of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap offered up an evening of both intrigue and solid entertainment. ...

A good bit of praise must go to Director Phyllis Lecky, who managed to wrest from the amateur troop the kind of quality you'd expect from solid summer stock performances and, in some cases, better than that. These young thespians not only memorized their lines, nor did they simply 'deliver' them with some conviction. The pure and simple fact is, they acted, and acted wonderfully well. ...

Never mind the difficulties of the roles. ... Never mind the demands of the various monologues. ... And never mind the special requirements of the more eccentric characters, or the emotional demands of the more 'normal' ones. You can tell in other, less obvious ways, whether the troupe is simply going through the motions well, or genuinely involved in the performance. ...

Simply watch what each does when his or her character isn't delivering lines, or being addressed by one of the others. ... Watch, too, how they handle the moments of laughter which the script evokes. And especially watch and listen to see whether they're simply 'talking heads', or are fully involved in their roles. ...

By all of these criteria, this troupe gave an outstanding performance. And not just this or that one, but each and every one. ... Credit, too, goes to the set design, staging, and lighting. The set was effective and appropriately appointed, and the lighting, well-placed, with just enough variety, sparsely used, to make it effective without being obtrusive. ...

It was, in short, a delightful night of theatre. ... But if you'd like to find out more, then take a look at some of the scenes, below:

The Mousetrap at CVU Performed: April 12th - 14th 2001
Director: Producer: Stage Mgt. Advisor: Technical Design: Stage Managers: Production Asst.: Dramaturgist:	Phyllis Lecky CVU Drama Club Amanda Lacey James McNamara Emily Bruce, Alyson Bull, Michael McGreevey Emma Pouech Rachael Smith

The Cast & The Play
The Radio Announcer {Nick Curtis} rifles through the pages of breaking news. ... Curtis evoked the professional newscaster of an earlier era, delivering his lines in the quick tempo common in those days. ... He tells us of the murder that's already taken place. ...
The Hosts Prepare & the Suspects Arrive at Monkswell ...

Mollie Ralston {Megan McAllister} readies their Monkswell home for the expected visitors. ... McAllister managed a demanding role, with a fine performance & good emotional range -- and even a solid & sustained British accent. ...

Giles Ralston {Sam Wisniewski} arrives home to ponder whether he and wife Mollie can pull off the running a boarding house. ... Wisniewski gave a strong performance. As the somewhat reserved Giles, he nonetheless managed to portray Giles's inner strength throughout. ...

Christopher Wren {intentionally named after the famous British architect and played by Alex Nicosia} is the first to arrive and compliments Mollie on every last detail of their home. ... Nicosia pulled off the exuberant, if sometimes troubled character of Wren, delivering his lines in an apt staccato and punctuating them effectively with body & gestures. ...

Mrs. Boyle {Erin Evarts} arrives and almost instantly begins her haughty, skeptical criticism of the Monkswell establishment and its proprietors. ... Evarts was nearly flawless as Mrs. Boyle -- the eventual victim of the the next murder. She brought great attitude, inflection, and a physical grace that underscored Boyle's 'better than you' demeanor. ...

Giles and Mrs. Boyle greet Major Metcalf {Christopher Conroy} upon his arrival. ... With the kind of straightforward, no- nonsense requirements demanded by the Metcalf role, Conroy managed a solid caricature of a military Brit , with the accent to boot. ...

Wren is the only one there when Miss Casewell {Lauren Hibbard} arrives. ... Hibbard brought a solid presence to this part of the beauty with the brains, with its demands for someone who, by turns, could be carefree, passive-aggressive, or downright indignant. ...

Mollie greets the eccentric Mr. Paravacini {Ben Van Vliet}, the last of the guests to arrive. ... Van Vliet's Paravacini, with his effusively grand gestures and ironic humor, was a tightrope role that could have easily tripped up a lesser actor. But Van Vliet managed to play it without missing a step. ...

The Ralstons become concerned when they learn that a detective is coming in connection with the murder that took place in the nearby village. ...

	Detective Sergeant Trotter {Timothy Whitney} arrives to extend the murder investigation, and to prevent another murder. ... Whitney gave a solid performance, with a number of demanding moments, as the public servant who is troubled, and not only by the murder. ...
For More Scenes from the Play including full-size photos
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If you would like to submit something for Sounds Around, or if you simply would like to suggest a performance you'd like us to cover, e-mail us at ... music@downstreetmagazine.com.