When Zach arrived at the Performing Arts Center to audition for this play, I hadn't the slightest idea that Zach would win a role in the play. Once I saw him and the way he protrayed himself as "Virgil Baxter-- the pharacist neighbor of Marsha". He added his own "Curly-like" charm to his audition so there was no doubt he'd be the one to win the part.
Marsha returns, since she forgot the book, but decided to not go out since the library's already closed (its about 6 o'clock at night right now). She rants on about how the book is about how a woman who has no diea that her husband is trying to do her in for money so he couldn run off with another girl. She goesto her chair when Bianca mentions Perses (as a business acquaintance). She hears them come down and hides by her chair. She hears them talking, how they're going to take her to the bay, hit a champagne bottle on 'her nose', ship her out to sea and go back home to celebrate.
She starts to panic after they leave, saying its just like in her book. She calls the police, but gets the operato. She's angry with them, saying 'i will not cross my heart and hope to die, I want the police. Hello police, my husband's going to murder me.. he's not murdering me right now, i suppose he's getting tired of me... no i haven't been drinking.. ok, one drink, but that was after I heard them.' She gets so mad that she slams the phone down. Bianca suggests that she needs an alley for this. She picks Virgil, her next-door neighbor. After calling him, Tobias comes downstairs in his robe (from the shower). Marsha screams a bit and then Bianca screams (I dont know why.) The doorbell rings and Virgil comes running in "i heard a woman scream."
Marsha comes in and they talk about how they were on the phone, but she pulls him through their conversation like a dog on a leash (being secret around her husband). Marsha invites him over for dinner, telling him to act natural, which he is really bad at. They're about to leave when Marsha drags Virgil behind the bar. They listened to Perses and Tobias talking. She thinks of a cover-up story, that he's an interior decorator (which she really is), in case they are to meet. He says that he'll get her to come to the bay after telling her about a crab resturant since she loves crab. They're about to get away, when Tobias spots them. They talk about an "interview" in the paper about Perses in the paper.
When they leave, they talk about a plan. Marsha wants to leave to prevent any danger to her life. Virgil's cover-up story is having her visit a relative in San Francisco, but she's really coming over to his place. He says they need to murder them first. She thinks about using a gun, but Virgil hates them, and she doesnt think she would have the guts to shoot someone. She thinks that, since Virgil is a pharmicst that he could mix up a poison. She sends him into her kitchen to get some house-hold poisons (he doesnt have any since he doesnt want to poison himself by mistake.)
Marsha thinks about cancelling it since Perses said how much Tobias loved her, but hangs up when Tobias comes back into the room. He comes back with a Ms. Butter-worth bottle with the poison inside (he didnt want to throw the bottle away.) He leaves it on the table while they go to have the soup.
After they leave, Lynette, Marsha's mother, comes in with a gift of liquor (which is in the exact same bottle as the poison). She overhears their scheme and flushes the poison down the toilet, filling the bottle with pure gin. Bianca starts to play with the bottles and drinking out of them (which she does a lot of in the play). She drinks out of both, saying one tasted awful and likes the one filled with the gin.
Later on, her boyfriend, Ben the policeman, comes in to pick her up, but he's still driving an ambulance. Marsha overhears about her being taken away in an ambulance, and thinks she's dying from the poison she drunk by accident. She's freaking out about it. Tobias is curious why. Virgil's a bit on edge after a while. He then gives himself up, but Ben already left. Virgil's all scared for Bianca (when Zach did this, it was very convincing). Perses and Tobias drink from the bottle and Virgil's so nervous that he faints on the floor. Later, Ben and Bianca come busting in with supposedly members of the "Village people" They want to arrest Perses and Tobias (they then go into a rhyme by shouting "hey" a few times). Suddenly, the music of "macho man" comes on and everyone breaks into dancing poses until the lights comes back on. They take them away, but her mother follows soon after.
Marsha goes up for a nap while Virgil talks about what they did out loud, unaware that everyone was coming back and overheard him. To teach her lesson between fact and fiction, Perses decides to have everyone reenact the end of "The Creeping Slasher" since she already read it.
Marsha comes back down and picks up the phone when Virgil's talking to her as Perses and Tobias comes up behind her to tie her up. They talk about slashing her into 7 pieces. She says its just like the book and how the policeman were no help (Ben's in the closet and nearly busts up until Bianca stops him). After much delibration, Virgil comes back with a gun, saying "take your clothes off". They're like "what?" He tries to remember his line from the book "freeze!" She tells them that she doesnt want them to spoil the end of the book for her so they decide not to kill her. Virgil hates guns, but he had confiscated it from one of this students (he's really a kindergarten teacher). Tobias explains that her gift was a new seaplane and they end the play with a kiss.
Marsha Gilmore: Katie Walsh Star Bright: Kelly MacMath
Tobias Gilmore: Matt Bartolacci Mike Tanner: Joe Hannon
Perses Devore: Lauren Sperry Rudy Dumas: Justin Derry
Virgil Baxter: Zach Clause The Duke: Frank "Duke" Fleming
Bianca: Janna Emig
Lynette: Maggie Carr
Ben Quaid: Rich Petillo