It has been 20 years since the Drama Group in Chicago Heights and the Stables Theatre in Hastings, England, established an international exchange program.
What started with the Drama Group traveling across the pond to perform “Spoon River Anthology” and the Stables Theatre bringing “Great Expectations” to the Southland the following year continues with “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940.”
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“Obviously England is known in many circles for the immense talent it has and the productions it puts on whether it’s on stage or television or in theater or film,” said MaryEllen Fawk, director of “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940.”
“To be able to share with them the way we do things, how we approach things and what goes into mounting a production creates a broadening of art. We can take and share ideas we have about theater and performance.”
“The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940” by John Bishop runs from June 7-16 at the Milord Studio Theatre in Chicago Heights before being staged from June 21-29 in England.
“The show takes place in upstate New York at the home of a wealthy Broadway producer,” said Fawk about a woman seeking to discover who killed three chorus girls during her last show.
“Elsa Von Grossenknueten with the help of a detective from New York really wants to get all the suspects in one place to see if they can roust out the Stage Door Slasher. Everybody suspects somebody else. There’s some crazy antics,” she said.
“There’s a bit of old vaudeville touches but it’ll keep them guessing, trying to figure out who the murderer is and keep them laughing all the while.”
Barbara Whitney, of Richton Park, helps directs the show, which includes crew and cast members from Alsip, Chicago Heights, Crete, Homewood, Matteson, New Lenox, Olympia Fields and Tinley Park.
“This is a stellar cast. They’re really fabulous. Most of them have performed for some time, not just with the Drama Group but also at theaters over in Northwest Indiana and all over the south suburbs. Many of them have been involved with the Drama Group for many years,” said Fawk, of Chicago Heights.
“We’ve got some veterans like Tony Labriola, who was heavily involved with the founding of the exchange of the Drama Group and Stables. We have some new members going to England for the first time.”
Fawk, an English and theater performance teacher at Shepard High School in Palos Heights, first worked with the theater exchange when she acted in the Drama Group’s 2012 production of “Rabbit Hole” directed by Labriola, of Olympia Fields.
She participated in another theater exchange when she acted in the Drama Group’s 2015 production of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” directed by Michael “MJ” Renzi, of New Lenox, who is doing set construction for “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940.”
“The Stables folks really like it when we bring a well-known comedy or a well-known piece of theater there. It could be a drama as well,” said Fawk, who is also treasurer of the Drama Group.
“They like something by an American author and they do the same coming over to us. They’ll bring something that’s typically British.”
‘The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940’
When: 7:30 p.m. June 7-8 and 13-15; 2 p.m. June 9 and 16
Where: The Drama Group’s Milord Studio Theatre, 330 W. 202nd St., Chicago Heights
Tickets: $23 adults; $21 ages 65 and older; $17 students; group discounts available; ages 5 and younger not admitted
Information: 708-755-3444; www.dramagroup.org