Whether it’s from the classic family board game or the beloved 1985 movie, Clue is a story familiar to audiences nationwide. It’s the beloved story of a whodunnit murder filled with a creative and humorous cast of characters. Due to the game and movie’s insane popularity, it was only natural for Director Dan Cerullo to pick Clue as our fall play.

“When selecting my inaugural show at WF, I wanted to make sure it was something that would excite the students and community. I directed Clue six years ago so I was very comfortable with the material. It was a no-brainer,” Cerullo said.

With Cerullo being new to the school’s theatre department, he knew that he had a reputation to build in the school. He had several goals to achieve a strong theatre department under him.

“My main goal with my first year teaching here is to create a sense of community. As someone coming into an already established program, it can be difficult to create community and a bond with the students,” Cerullo said. “That has been my major focus and not to mention putting on incredible shows!”

Once deciding on the fall play, the show was casted and began rehearsals. The performers were pleased to find that they had been casted.

“I was thrilled. I remember when I was in callbacks, I really felt really connected with the character I was playing and working with all these scenes and walking away feeling accomplished,” senior Kiera Ellsworth who played the part of Wadsworth said. “I really wanted that to come out to a result I was proud of and seeing the cast list and being proud of all the hard work I had put in and come back to callbacks.”

The rehearsal process involved intense repetition.

“We do it after school every day and we just like went through, scene by scene and get it all through and then run through the whole show when we had it all down,” freshman Owen Henderson who played Colonel Mustard said.

However, rehearsing a play comes with great responsibility. As a performer you have to study your character and how to portray them.

“Just through the rehearsal process I kind of studied the scenes and kind of just felt out what he would do and my director helped a lot with that. It was very, just everyone was hard working, I enjoyed it a lot and the director did a great job,” sophomore Gabriel Emery, who played Professor Plum said.

Though the rehearsal process was fun, certain aspects of the show were harder than others.

“I struggled the most with variation of emotion throughout different scenes because my character specifically is mainly in a hysterical state the whole show and having to differentiate the different stages in how she talks and acts but I think I got it. I think I did fine with our relationships with each character,” senior Clara Gee who played Mrs. Peacock said.

With such a small main cast, line memorization was also a formidable task.

“I struggled with the lines part because it’s such a fast show that you have to know your cues and have to say your lines really quick and just making choices was really fun,” Emery said.

With the 80’s movie being so popular, some performers tried to differentiate themselves from their movie counterparts.

“I reread over the script and analyzed all her lines because Mr. C had said that many people tried to play her as some ditzy girl, but I never got that vibe from her,” senior Angelina Hall who played Ms. Scarlett said. “I tried to make her into this more mature and elegant woman who had a fiery personality instead of a clueless kind of character.”

It’s no secret that rehearsing a play is a tedious and difficult task, but joy can still be found in the process.

“It was a really small cast and there were like six of us on stage at a time so it was a really good time to bond,” senior Carmen York who played Mrs. White said.

After multiple rehearsals and perfecting their roles, it was finally time for opening night. The show was extremely successful, and the performers were pleased with how the show went.

“My favorite memory was probably after opening night, just going into the dressing room and everyone like jumping up and down and being so excited for all our hard work and raw effort and energy we put into the show and just being able to feel that we did a good job and hearing the audience, I thought that was really awesome,” Ellsworth said.

The audience found the show very humorous.

“My favorite moment performance wise was the first time I heard the audience laugh at one of my lines,” Hall said.

Cerullo was also pleased with his first show at the school.

“In my opinion, this show did incredibly well,” Cerullo said. “From what I understand, it was some of the biggest crowds we’ve had for a fall play in years, and I am so proud of what my actors created on stage.”

Clue did extremely well, but Cerullo’s journey has just begun. He still has The Little Mermaid to direct in the spring as well as multiple matinee shows and other smaller productions like NCTC and the student directed one acts. Though Cerullo has a lot on his plate, wisdom was gained by his first directing experience here.

“The biggest piece of wisdom I have gained is just the personalities and how each student works in this program,” Cerullo said. It has been an absolute delight to get to know each student and I am so excited to continue to help them grow as performers through my time here.”