USCHS Fall Play
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For Better or Wurst
- 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024
- 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024
- 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024
- 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024
About the show...
Upper St. Clair High School will present four performances of the play, “For Better or Wurst.” Under the direction of Eliza Luxbacher, all shows will be held in the high school theater.
“For Better or Wurst” is a fun homage to the classic film-noir hardboiled detective genre. Audiences will follow the adventures of Nick Noir and his fiancée/secretary Selma as they search for clues at her parent’s mansion and laugh along at the mishaps and red-herrings along the way.
“With a cast of 20, this show fits the growing performing arts program,” Ms. Luxbacher said. “With a variety of characters, archetypes and classic mystery tropes, this show provides an engaging experience for our students while providing a fun-filled evening for all mystery lovers!”
The show is appropriate for all ages but namely, for those who appreciate a classic murder mystery and the challenge of solving a whodunit.
“The audience will love the classic archetypal characters as well as the mystery around which of those characters isn’t who they say they are,” Ms. Luxbacher said. “The audience will also love the intimacy created by the small cast. Our students have worked incredibly intentionally to bring this show to life, and we are so excited to share it with audiences!”
“For Better or Wurst” was written by Craig Sodaro. With more than 60 titles currently in print, most of his work is ideal for children's theater and school performances.
“As a huge mystery fan, I have read and loved Sodaro’s Nick Noir mysteries for nearly a decade,” Ms. Luxbacher said. “The beauty of Sodaro’s works is his mastery of taking a beloved genre or archetype and creating approachable, accessible productions for high school performers.”
The play is produced by special arrangement with Heuer Publishing LLC of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Synopsis:
Nick Noir, ace private eye, has just bought the wedding rings in preparation for his wedding to Selma, his devoted secretary. He’s also all set to meet Selma’s parents for the first time before he and Selma scoot off to Vegas for a quick wedding at the Little Chapel of Love.
Selma, however, has failed to fill Nick in on a few facts. For one thing, her father is Otto Meyer, who has made a fortune selling his famous hot dogs. Selma’s family lives in a mansion with 28 rooms, two swimming pools, and, well, you get the picture. It’s a life Nick’s not acquainted with.
For another thing, her mother and father are planning a Big Wedding being coordinated by two very gushy coordinators, Lonnie Hart and Lila Soul. Even the three bridesmaids are planning to be at the mansion to meet Nick. And by the way, Selma has told her folks that she’s marrying a doctor, and that she’s the chief administrator at Johns Hopkins Medical Center. To make the weekend jaunt even more interesting, the seductive Desiree Divine hires Nick to find a long-lost ex, whom she has traced to - - you guessed it - - Wurst mansion.
At the mansion, Otto’s business manager, Cosmo, is frantically trying to find out what happened to millions of dollars he claims he sent to the IRS as a tax payment but the IRS says they never received. As the wedding expenses mount up, Otto becomes more and more nervous about how he’ll make ends meet. Disaster strikes when Cosmo turns up dead, the victim of a blunt object to the back of the head.
“Dr.” Noir takes over, asking the usual questions and quickly finds that everybody in the house is a suspect. Ralph, Sissy’s lazy boyfriend has disappeared, so he becomes the prime suspect. When Desiree disappears as well, Nick decides he’d better mount an all-out offensive to find out who killed Cosmo and why.
With the fancy footwork of a classic gumshoe, Nick pieces the puzzle together while patching up his differences with Selma. Just as he reveals who the killer is.