Postmortem: Topeka High’s Fall Show Opening Tonight
“Expect gunshots and deception,” said Colin Wright, senior and actor in Topeka High School’s production of Ken Ludwig’s Postmortem.
Postmortem follows the story of actors in a “Broadway revival” of William Gillette’s Sherlock Holmes during a weekend at Gillette’s home in upstate New York. The weekend falls on the anniversary of Maude Dison’s, Gillette’s late fiancee, death. Gillette suspects one of his guests is Dison’s killer and is out to kill him as well. Making this assumption, Gillette takes the night into his own hands in this murder/mystery thriller.
“My character is William Gillette and he plays Sherlock Holmes,” said Wright. “He’s kind of obsessed with his role as Sherlock. It’s very funny at times and at the same time really dramatic and unexpected.”
Gregg Ratzloff, the show’s director and Topeka High’s stagecraft instructor, has also put an emphasis on stage props and effects throughout the show, using realistic prop guns and breakable drinking glasses.
“The guns we’re using, they’re the frames of real guns with caps in them.” said Wright. “[They’re] really loud and heavy and [it] sort of adds a new level of depth.”
With this show also comes actors who are newer to the stage than others, such as Shaan Samo, a junior who finds himself acting on a high school stage for the first time.
“My character is Leo Barrett and [he] is pretty much the only one who isn’t heavily accused of being the murderer.” said Samo.
While Samo’s role may be mildly smaller than some of his fellow cast members’, he has found a joy in theater through doing this show.
“This is my first real high school theater experience and it has been fantastic for me,” said Samo. “Everyone is kind of skeptical of theater because you have to go outside of yourself and do things that you’re not used to doing. But it’s a really fun environment. It’s different from football, or music. It’s just its own little world and I love it.”
Postmortem will be running this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:00 P.M. in Topeka High’s Hoehner Auditorium. Tickets will be $5 at the door.
