Everyone loves a good murder mystery, and the La Grange Area Teen Theater Ensemble (LATTE) should satisfy the amateur sleuth community with its production of “And Then There Were None.”
LATTE’s summer show is an adaptation of a stage play written by Agatha Christie, who adapted it from her own 1939 novel of the same name.
“A well-done murder mystery is true brilliance,” LATTE founder and director Felicia Pfluger said, “and this is a particularly ambitious show.”
The plot involves eight guests from different walks of life, with no connection to each other, who receive unexpected personal invitations to an island off the coast of Devon in England.
Rhymes are discovered in each guest room, and when guests start turning up dead, their deaths are all in some way connected to the rhymes.
Pfluger describes LATTE’s version of the classic as “part spoof, part thriller. As the show progresses, the comedy falls away, revealing more tension, and becoming more real and macabre.”
Felicia Pfluger grew up in Iowa and is a graduate of St. Ambrose University in Davenport.
She had already run a private theater group when she was approached by locals to start something for area youth.
“The area teens reached out to me,” she said of the beginning of LATTE.
LATTE has introduced area teens to the theater since 2009, typically putting on several shows each year, often classics such as “Arsenic and Old Lace,” “The Diary of Anne Frank,” and “Little Women.”
LATTE shows have even tackled material by Shakespeare and Oliver Wilde. It’s spring play this year was a spirited production of “Steel Magnolias.”
While the character names were changed in the 1945 movie of the same name, Pfluger stuck to the names Christie used in her novel and stage play.
Mia Wojcik, a La Grange resident and sophomore at Lyons Township High School, is a veteran of LATTE shows, having taken on the role of M’Lynn Eatenton in “Steel Magnolias,” the part played by Sally Field in the 1989 movie.
She’s back to reprise another acting icon’s role in “And Then There Were None” by playing Judge Wargrave, a man with a guilty conscience, played in the 1945 movie by Barry Fitzgerald.
“I’ve never been in murder mystery before, and I’ve learned so much,” she said in preproduction publicity. “You have to be careful not to be your own spoiler regarding your actions and choices during the play.”
Wojcik couldn’t resist throwing a little challenge to the audience, saying “I really hope the audience has a hard time figuring out the murder. It’s always so interesting hearing everyone’s thought process and why they think certain characters are guilty and why.”
Downers Grove North freshman Isaiah Ublies plays General McKenzie, the World War I hero who sent a man he caught having an affair with his wife on a mission of almost certain death.
He said that his characters in previous shows were definitely different.
“I’m playing General McKenzie,” he said, “and it is a different vibe from my other characters who were more upbeat and happier, whereas General McKenzie has more life challenges and difficulties. His personality is strong and powerful, but also extremely emotional as well.”
Darian Galan, a student at Westview Hills Middle School in Westmont, plays the cynical butler, Thomas Rogers.
“He doesn’t like his job and likes to talk about other people behind their backs,” he said. “Which is a challenge for me to play because I am the opposite and believe in being kind to others.”
“And Then There Were None,” a play in three acts, will run July 28, 29, and 30 at the Plymouth Place Auditorium, 315 N. La Grange Rd.
The Friday-Saturday shows are evening events, with curtain at 7 p.m. The Sunday show will be a 2 p.m. matinee.
For further information on tickets, see the LATTE website lattetheater.com
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
