JAREN GRAGG - MNJ CORRESPONDENT
LINVILLE — Mayland Community College hosted its ninth annual Murder Mystery Dinner recently at Linville Falls Winery, bringing together students and community members for an evening of food, entertainment, and fundraising to support student scholarships.
The dinner was brought to life by the Mitchell High School Drama Department under the direction of instructor Angie Holtzclaw.
The evening’s menu was prepared by Helena Kitchen and the Avery Culinary Club. This year’s Murder Mystery "Shakespeare’s Great Eight" featured an all-female cast portraying some of Shakespeare’s most famous leading ladies, including Lady Macbeth, Ophelia, Katherine, Juliet, Portia and Viola, as they competed to determine who was Shakespeare’s greatest leading lady.
Attendees enjoyed an interactive performance filled with suspense and humor throughout the evening. Proceeds from the event benefited the community college scholarship fund. According to Brywn Phillips, the fundraiser raised nearly $2,400 for scholarships during the evening. Phillips said the Mayland Community College Foundation has awarded approximately $128,000 in scholarships over the academic school year.
“A huge reward of my job is to be out in the community and meeting people,” Phillips said. She added that listening to people’s stories about Mayland was one of the most rewarding parts of the evening.
Phillips also praised the collaboration that helped make the event possible. “They do such a great job, and it’s so rewarding to have the high schools come together with the community college to pull this event off,” Phillips said. She continued that her favorite part of the evening was the audience interaction and seeing the hard work of the culinary students.
“I love the audience interaction. It’s so fun and spontaneous, and the actors are able to work off of that,” Phillips said. “I love the way the actors embody their characters and grow in confidence through the performance. I also love the culinary students and all of the pride they take in what they have created.” Angie Holtzclaw, drama teacher at Mitchell High School, said the idea for the production began the week before spring break. Holtzclaw said the cast wanted to create something unique that differed from previous productions while also moving away from more contemporary themes.
She explained that the group decided to focus on Shakespeare’s leading ladies and then developed the concept into a murder mystery by imagining what would happen if the characters became competitive over who was Shakespeare’s favorite leading lady. Holtzclaw also noted that productions outside the traditional school setting allow students to “spread their wings” and improvise in a different environment. “We build relationships that continue after graduation,” Holtzclaw said. “It’s not just students leaving. It’s like patting a friend on the back and saying, "Wow, I can’t wait to see what you’re going to do next.”
Noella McClellan, who played Cleopatra, and Onica Deyton, who portrayed Juliet in the mystery dinner, noted that this year’s performance was different from previous productions. Instead of creating entirely new characters, both actresses said they spent time researching their roles because the characters were already so influential and widely recognized.
Deyton said that the cast read each other’s plays and memorized one another’s monologues to ensure they portrayed their characters as accurately as possible. McClellan said she enjoyed playing Cleopatra because the role was the complete opposite of her own personality. She described Cleopatra as “much bolder” and said the character helped bring her out of her shell. McClellan added that it was “exhilarating” to step into someone shoes and be someone else for a few hours.
Deyton said she enjoys both improv acting and performing from a book, but noted that improv is much different from scripted productions because actors have to think on their feet. She added that each cast member created their own alibi and confession in case they were selected as the murderer.
Both McClellan and Deyton said none of the actors knew who the murderer would be until the final moments of the performance. Deyton also shared that participating in plays and performances like this has “helped grow bonds” with many of her classmates."