Mac Olsen
Express Staff
The Local Actors Having Fun Troupe held their first performance of the year at the Jean Cote community hall on Feb. 27 and the audience laughed away at their hillbilly antics.
This year marks 10 years for LAHF Troupe and their production is entitled ‘A Stiff on Moonshine Hill’. It’s in the murder mystery dinner theatre format as in previous years. The audience gets to vote for whom they think committed the murder.
The central theme of the story is the murder of Skeeter, played by Aidan Charest. Skeeter is supposed to get married to Boss Hogg’s daughter.
But Skeeter is found dead by a couple of his friends and they do everything they can to make it appear as if he’s still alive. That includes taking him fishing.
Boss Hogg is doing some scheming of his own, smuggling in some Mexicans to work cheaply for him.
Other hillbillies have their own schemes that they try to carry out.
A three-course meal is held provided as part of the experience, with a part of the meal at the end of each act. The appetizer was a small container of beans and a biscuit. The main course was a meat pie and coleslaw. The dessert was cake and whip cream.
Guests were encouraged to dress up in their best hill billy duds. Rita and Richard Therriault won first prize for the best costumes. Look for photos of them and other guests in this two-page story. Also, look for more photos of costumed guests for the second and third performances in the March 23 edition of the Smoky River Express.
LAHF Troupe ended their performance with the hill billy rendition of ‘Thunderstruck’, which included going into the audience to dance. Look for a video clip of this performance on the Express’ Facebook page.
Besides the cast and crew, there were other volunteers who helped with the production. This included the people who made and served the dinner.
The Grade 12 students for Georges P. Vanier helped serve the dinner, too. They also handled the coat check for donations.
Look for other photos of this performance, as well as on the Express’ website at www.smokyriverexpress.com, in a later edition.
