Students presenting story of Lizzie Borden at dinner theater tonight
Belmont:Being presented before a sold-out crowd this evening will be the first-ever dinner theater production of “Lizzie” put on by students at the Belmont Middle School.
Changing the script slightly to add a somewhat lighter feel to the mystery-dinner, students will travel back in time to 1892, the year when Lizzie Borden was accused of hacking her parents, Andrew and Abby Borden, to death with an ax in their Fall River, Mass., home.
Gifted and Talented teacher Laura Dwyer said the production has been a few years in the making since her students have been reading books and doing research about the murders and trial for some time now.
“Although the murders were part of a landmark case, if you go behind the scenes, you get to see everything that led up to the murders,” said Dwyer.
Two years ago, students conducted a mock trial of the Lizzie Borden case where they were invited to use one of the newly renovated courtrooms in the Laconia District Court. Students then did a crime scene investigation where they produced “evidence” from the Lizzie Borden murder scene and made their own conclusions.
“This is the play now and we’ve changed it to be more of a comedy,” said Dwyer. “We did change the script a little bit to fit it into the mystery-dinner format as well as a comedy.”
Dwyer said her students were responsible for adding in the comical aspects of the play and complimented them on their hard work.
“The kids did a lot of the work and it’s hysterical now,” she said.
The script for the production was taken from the play “Lizzie” written by Owen Haskell. To give the students a fuller understanding of the incident, her group visited the Lizzie Borden Inn for the day in Fall River, Mass., and had a team of paranormal “investigators” join them earlier this school year.
The production tonight will have two acts, with act one having three scenes and the second having four scenes. A five-course dinner will be served throughout the two-hour show, catered by Gourmet By Design.
Dwyer said it has been a collaborative effort between the middle and high school with past students helping with the production.
“The cast for the production has been outstanding,” she said. “Everyone has been extremely dedicated since we started in September.”
Casting for the show includes students from sixth to eighth grade. Members include Malia Lundahl as Lizzie, Asia Merrill as Bridget, Michael Sanborn as Andrew Borden, Casey Akerman as Abby Borden, Nikolai Fernandez as John Morse, Ian Rupp as Dr. Bowen, Sarah Thayer as Alice Russell, Paige Norkiewicz as the narrator and “Addie” Churchill and Karl Wieck as “Liar” Lawyer Jennings.
Additional crew members assisting in staging, costumes, lighting and other tasks include Riley Woods, Cory Yelle, Bobby Blais and Emily Ashey.
“We’re definitely going to do another mystery-dinner next year,” said Dwyer.
At the end of the show, university professor and author of the book “Lizzie Borden Took An Ax — Or Did She” Annette Holba will be doing a meet-and-greet as well as a book-signing.
