Death of a Prom Queen: Murder as a Fundraising Tool

An Original Play by the Ward Melville Players

First published in the Times Beacon Record Newspapers.

The reunion of the fictional high school class of 1992 began with the slightly tipsy Principal (graduated from tipsy to incoherent quite convincingly throughout the evening by Alexis Karpf) welcoming her guests; and insulting each of the main characters by way of introducing them to the assembled audience. The cast was scattered throughout the room, seated at the tables with the audience members so that, between staged scenes, everyone was part of the show.

We were gathered together to watch and then solve the mystery of who killed Tiffany Miller the prom queen from hell as imagined by the multi-talented Ward Melville senior Sarah O’Rourke, who wrote and directed the performance as the culmination of the school’s annual collaboration between the Ward Melville Players and the Volunteer Center. This year’s charity beneficiary was Habitat for Humanity, for which the show’s two-night sold out run raised $4,000.

The hurts and traumas of high school never really leave us, but most of us get over them enough to live productive lives without murdering our nemeses. In this performance we were treated to all the false camaraderie of reunions, spliced with flashbacks to the memories-as-motives for each suspect. It’s not hard to figure out who is going to die, Holly Bernesser plays the twisted Tiffany as flamboyantly manipulative, spoiled, self-centered, ruthless … you get the idea.

O’Rourke has taken the advice given to countless young writers over the ages, “write what you know” and developed the angst of high school life – where people like Tiffany really matter – into a story she says reveals “the frightening duality of human nature – t he darkest desires which are hidden beneath respectable surfaces.”

Volunteer Center Advisor Tom Lyon worked with Amie Baracks (senior), Sean DeBobes (senior) and Sarah Huda (senior) to pull together the non-performance elements of the evening. According to Baracks, it is the responsibility of the volunteer center team to get the food donated or discounted, decorate the cafeteria, prepare the food, set the tables, serve the food and put everything back in order for lunch the following day. This is no small task and involved the cooperation of numerous outside organizations. “We would like to thank Waldbaums, Ralph’s Ices, Setauket International Deli, Z-Pita, Bagel King, the Golden Pear, the Rolling Pin, Mario’s, Sclafani’s, Strathmore Bagel, American Video, Salsa Salsa, Elements, 2^nd Wind and Outback Steakhouse, for their contributions,” said Baracks.

When the play was completed and the detectives (chicly depicted by Sarah Longacre and Mia Winton wearing all black and plenty of attitude) had finished their questioning, the audience was given their ballots and asked to vote for their favorite suspect.

Ÿ Was it Tiffany’s long suffering husband, ably portrayed by Ben Davis as a handsome deer-in-the-headlights guy who really still loves her, in spite of his better judgment?

Ÿ Was it Tiffany’s not-at-all identical sister (played to neurotic perfection by Tara McDonald) who has been building up a serious case of sister envy forever – and who was in love with the dreamy Greg before Tiffany stole him?

Ÿ Was it Christina, the air-headed jealous “best friend” from whom Tiffany stole the head cheerleader spot she’d wanted so badly? (The lovely Lauren Auricchio/Christina sat at our table and remained totally in character – never stringing together a coherent sentence about anything but cheerleading and Tiffany all night. A wonderful performance.)

Ÿ Was it Josh, (Guiseppe Ribaudo suitably dramatic in his cape and arrogance) the strange kid obsessed with tragedy who grew up to be a director?

Ÿ Was it the two bubble-brained aerobics instructors (Jacqueline Boren and Marina Montes) who shared one of the best lines in the show “If God didn’t intend us to eat animals, why did he make them out of meat?” with the straight faces of real actors.

Ÿ Was it Steve whose heart Tiffany broke in junior year? (Andy Yanni took the part of the poor schnook to hilarious extremes.)

Ÿ Was it Stuart (portrayed with real geek feeling by Sandy Pomales) who had to share credit for his science project with the grasping Tiffany?

Ÿ Was it Susan and Jillian, wife and best friend respectively of the shafted scientist (Kerri Farrell and Tara McKinley were wonderful, worshipful, wall flowers.)

Ÿ Was it Billy and Kevin, the epitome of dumb jocks, played with extravagant hilarity by (Neil Weintraub and Tom Hennessy)? Weintraub’s real life parents were at our table enjoying their son’s antics, and his father is responsible for our table’s totally lame guess about the killer’s identity.

Ÿ Was it Principal Ledger, who was tired of being blackmailed?

Ÿ Was it Mrs. Hall (Adrienne Winton) or Mrs. Smith (Chrissy Tutino) the only sober faculty in the place, gamely trying to cope with a dead prom queen and serve dessert at the same time?

Ÿ Was it the delivery girl who brought the poisoned flowers (Sara Morabito)?

The one thing we know is that it wasn’t the hysterically campy Big Bertha (brought to life by Jeff Kessler with blue shadow over the eyes and a five o’clock shadow over the chin).

All I can say is that it was someone different for each of the show’s two performances, and if you missed it, you missed it. O’Rourke is going to college to study writing and directing and I predict that someday we will be covering her with a home-town-girl-makes-it-big story and pretending we all knew her better than we did.

This year’s able Assistant Director, junior Ashley Pagano, is already planning next year’s event. If she does as well as her predecessor, she too will have a success on her hands. My suggestion: watch the 2003-4 school calendar and get tickets for next year’s show. It’s a good time for a good cause.