To call the play being performed at the end of the month in Long Green by The Phoenix Players a mystery is an understatement.
The play, "The Butler Did It," being performed Oct. 29-30 features mystery writers who gather for a weekend and are asked to impersonate the detectives they've created. When one of them is murdered, the fictional detectives try to find the killer.
The action takes place at a weekend party thrown by eccentric hostess Miss Maple, played by Marge Ricci. Her old house is on an island, and a storm takes out the lights and telephone lines.
The writers who show up as their fictional detectives include a Charlie Chan-type logical thinker named Louie Fan, played by Ken Hawman. There is a Humphrey Bogart-like detective, Chandler Marlowe, played by Leonard Gilbert, and Father White, a scholarly clergyman played by John Rowe.
"This is both a drama and a comedy," said George Trocki, who plays the sophisticated Rick Carlyle, half of a fictional husband-and-wife team based on Nick and Nora Charles from "The Thin Man." Judy Jarava plays his wife, Laura Carlyle.
And sporting a pipe, magnifying glass and brimmed hat is Englishman Peter Flimsey, played by Jerry Gietka.
Mastering the accent wasn't too hard for Gietka, who lives in Phoenix. He has acted with the British Players, a group that performs British theater in Washington, D.C. He has also appeared at Cockpit in Court at Community College of Baltimore County, Essex, as well as Toby's and Timonium dinner theaters.
Sara Walsh plays a maid named Haversham, Regina Rose plays Rita Eyelsbarrow, Mrs. Maple's social secretary, and Jennifer Skarzinski, playing Charity Haze, arrives on the island by helicopter in the middle of the storm.
Knowing they had to find 10 people to fill lead roles, director Don Wesley and producer Gary Miller held auditions in June, earlier than usual.
"We knew if we couldn't find enough good people, we'd have to go with another play," Miller said. "We ended up with a great cast."
The play is being done dinner-theater style at Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren's hall. One performance is dessert only.
Tickets are $13 for show only; $15 for dessert performance; and $30 for dinner performance. Proceeds will be donated to the Family Crisis Center of Baltimore County.
Meal and show times are on Oct. 28, doors open at 7 p.m., dessert is at 7:15 and the show is at 7:45. On Oct. 29, Nov. 4 and 5, doors open at 6 p.m., dinner is at 6:30 and the show is at 7:45. On Oct. 30, doors open at 1:30 p.m., dinner is at 2 and the show at 3:15.
For tickets, call 410-666-2506. The church is located at 4800 Long Green Road.