Enjoy dinner and a show at Longmeadow High

Date: 2/23/2009

By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



LONGMEADOW -- If you and your date are looking for something fun to do this Friday, consider attending a dinner theater performance put on by Longmeadow High School's Drama Club.

The club will be presenting "Beowulf on a Budget" and "Dinner at Eight, Dead by Nine" in the high school cafeteria on Feb. 27, starting at 6 p.m. While the Drama Club is entertaining, the high school's culinary arts class will be providing the edibles.

Amie Dibbern, a senior, is playing the part of Beowulf in the first play and Darby in the second play. She has been a member of the Drama Club all four years of high school but said she's been acting since second grade.

She said "Beowulf on a Budget" tells the story of a small town theater troupe who plans on putting on a performance of the classic story of "Beowulf," but the night before the performance the theater is broken into and all the props and costumes are stolen. The show must go on, however.

"I personally think the play is hilarious," Dibbern said. "It's a lot of fun."

Lauren Middleman, a junior and the director of the two plays, said that if a person has read "Beowulf," that will make the play even funnier, but it will still be funny for those who haven't read it.

The murder mystery/comedy "Dinner at Eight, Dead by Nine" will follow "Beowulf." Dibbern said this play is about a theater guild who loses one of its patrons, Eleanor Van Heussen, to murder at a benefit.

"She dies in her spaghetti," Dibbern said. She'll be playing the patron's granddaughter who suffers from a split personality in this play.

"'Dinner' is funny in a different way [than 'Beowulf']," Middleman said.

The director said she's working with a really great cast and a very humorous group of people. The Drama Club, which hosts about 40 students, selected the plays for the performance.

The Drama Club is advised by English teacher MaryEllen Barker. She will be directing the students in their spring musical, "Beauty and the Beast."

Tickets for the dinner theater are $10 each and are available through Feb. 25 at the high school.