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