By Bailey Lucero-Carter
This Halloween season, students from George Mason University stage a murder mystery that even the actors can’t solve. “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” presented by the GMU School of Theater and School of Music, uniquely incorporates audience participation to fuel the show.
Want one more surprise? Audiences are encouraged to keep their mobile devices on at all times during the performance in order to participate in the play.
“Drood” is a musical based on Charles Dickens’ unfinished final novel about the sudden disappearance of Mr. Drood and the investigation that follows. The play is meta-theatrical as GMU cast members play as actors from the Music Hall Royale theater troupe, a group that puts on a comedic version of Charles Dickens’ mystery novel.
Just as the novel’s conclusion remains unsolved, the conclusion of this musical adaptation is undecided from the beginning, making the performance unpredictable for both audience members and cast. Viewers, who are really participants, can use their smartphones or other mobile devices to decide for themselves “whodunit,” and cast members play out the conclusion according to their votes.
“Usually you go into a theater and you expect a beginning, middle and end out of your musical,” says Rachel Harrington, 24, who plays Angela Prysock/Princess Puffer in the play, “and this is more like we have the beginning and middle, but you as an audience member get to choose the end.” Harrington says the cast members must memorize six different endings for each possible outcome.
But audience members don’t just participate for the play’s conclusion; audience members will be prompted to actively participate from the show’s beginning to end. Ken Elston, Director of the School of Theater at GMU and director of the play, says audience engagement “is the whole reason we have theater. It’s because it’s alive and it’s immediate and it’s interactive,” especially in this particular play.
While previous performances of “Drood” employed hand-counting, Elston hopes to build the audience base at George Mason by utilizing their modern technology in the play.
Throughout the show, audience members can use an app or text a number to participate: their votes go towards customizing costumes, props and even sound. Those without a mobile device have the opportunity to vote just as much as those tech-savvy participants, as cast members count these other votes by hand.
Whether you participate technologically or traditionally, cast your vote at this GMU production of “Drood.”
“The Mystery of Edwin Drood”
October 24 – 26
GMU Center for the Arts
4373 Mason Pond Dr, Fairfax
October 31 – November 1
Hylton Performing Arts Center
10960 George Mason Cir, Manassas
$15, $25, free for GMU students after 10/14
