The MU Players performed “And Then There Were None,” as their fall
mainstage performance.
ANGELINA PEREZ / THE QUADRANGLE
By Victoria Schiller, Contributor
Friday, Nov. 22 was opening night for the Manhattan University Players’ fall mainstage production, where the cast performed their rendition of “And Then There Were None”, based on the novel by Agatha Christie.
The show ran from opening night to Sunday, Nov. 24 and was directed by Marty Marchitto. The play tells the story of ten strangers who are invited to a weekend getaway on a private island, all accused of getting away with murder by a host who is yet to make an appearance. As the days become nights, the guests one by one meet their demise in manners that match that of a framed nursery rhyme.
Following the show, The Quadrangle caught up with several cast members to discuss the production.
Kevin Cullen, a junior English major with a theater minor, starred as General Mackenzie, a skittish older man who yearns for his late wife throughout the entirety of the two acts. Cullen initially pitched the show to Players at the end of last semester. This show has been on his mind as a play since last October.
“This show for me was a passion project,” Cullen said. “I read this story for the first time in eighth grade and ever since then, it stuck with me. The characters in it are so interesting and complex. Agatha Christie is a master of leading you off with common tropes. A lot of her best stories have characters who you naturally eliminate as a possibility for a murderer and then it comes all the way back around to them. I thought it’d be a really good challenge for Players with the challenging characters, the mystery and making it subtle without giving the reveal away too early.”
Not only is “And Then There Were None” a passion project for Cullen, but he revealed that the character of General Mackenzie was his favorite in the book.
“General Mackenzie has been one of my favorite characters and I did not expect to get him,” Cullen said. “I didn’t even audition for him. He is one of the most interesting characters in the show. Even though he’s one of those characters that doesn’t last long, you remember him. He stands out as one of the favorites because he’s a broken and tired man who figured it out and knows what’s going on, and he’s okay with that.”
This fall was Owen Sweeney’s first official semester and mainstage with the MU Players. A junior business analytics and computer information systems major, Sweeney played the role of Phillip Lombard, an arrogant and flirtatious guest who has no problem telling the truth.
“It was really awesome, but very startling at first,” Sweeney said. “I didn’t expect to get a big role, but I really loved it. It was a great time and everybody in Players is great. It’s a super fun environment. I really love it.”
Sweeney offered The Quadrangle insight into what the auditioning process was like, as well as the practices and run-throughs leading up to opening weekend.
“We did auditions in late September,” Sweeney said. “It was a round robin style and I was here for maybe two hours. Two or three days later we got our cast list. The process leading up to this was a lot of fun. It was so much fun that I was showing up on days I didn’t even need to be here. Building the set with everybody was great and all the cast members are so much fun to be around. I wouldn’t change anything about the way this year worked for me.”
Many of the cast members have a plethora of experience in theater. The Quadrangle talked to cast members about how this experience compared to previous for them.
Robert Nolan, a senior computer engineering major, played the role of Justice Wargrave, a judge who treats every situation eerily similar to a court case. Nolan has been a part of Players since his freshman year and talked about performing at MU and his role on stage and behind the scenes.
“I never worked in a black box, but I prefer it way more to an auditorium setting,” Nolan said. “That’s what I like about it here [MU Players], but I’m tech director for this club, so I do a lot of the tech stuff and it’s really nice having free range to be able to have influence on the set, along with being able to build it as a group of people, as opposed to having people ahead of you, you build it as a team of people.”
The Quadrangle discussed with cast members which scenes were their favorite and why.
Lochlan Reeder, a senior sound studies major who played Thomas Rogers, the sarcastic and humorous butler of the mansion, told us his favorite part of the production.
“The whole section of the first act from when the murders are revealed until the end of the act,” Reeder said. “It’s just figuring things out and it’s really intense because everyone’s like, ‘who did what? What’s true, what isn’t?’ That’s when the play really gets rolling.”
Grace Coutu is a childhood education major in her sophomore year and played Edith Armstrong, a successful doctor who may care a little too much about her reputation.
“My favorite scene is Act Two: Scene two,” Coutu said. “It’s the five of us sitting in that room in the red light. I really love how that’s set up. I love the tension in it.”
Players will reconvene in the spring for their musical, which is yet to be announced following the retraction of rights for the originally planned production of Guys and Dolls.