The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Springfield Contemporary Theatre, 2019
Book, music, and lyrics by Rupert Holmes
The Mystery of Edwin Drood was one of the most challenging and exciting projects I've ever stage managed. The conceit of the show being that it had multiple endings, it was an exciting logistical challenge to figure out both how to communicate these to the band, mixer, and cast members in a theatre without a headset or paging system, but also how to rehearse these to make sure the actors would be prepared for any combination of endings.
We ended up creating a second callboard in a location accessible to everyone who needed to see that we could update mid-act with the ending the audience had voted for that evening, as well as blocking charts to verify how people's positioning would change based on who was getting the solo.
Creative Team
Director: Rick Dines
Stage Manager: Jake Vollmar
Music Director: Alex Huff
Choreographer: Haley Rolland
Assistant Choreographer: Declan P. Rhodes
Scenic Designer: Amy Holland
Lighting Designer: Lou Schaeffer
Costume Designer: Lou Schaeffer
Sound Designer: Christian Barnard
Cast
CHAIRMAN: Heath Hillhouse
EDWIN DROOD: Michaela Karr
ROSA BUD: Darby Vincent
JOHN JASPER: Jeremy Sullivan

PRINCESS PUFFER: Alberta Smith
NEVILLE LANDLESS: Jacob Winter
HELENA LANDLESS: Kelly Osborne
REV. CRISPARKLE: Kaleb Norman
BAZZARD: Kyle Widmar
DURDLES: Doug Cannon
DEPUTY: Jaxson Marte
ENSEMBLE: Bailey Doran, Abby McGrath, Lavelle Johnston, and Roland Netzer