Mystery, intrigue and laughter were offered to the audience of the dinner production "Clue" performed Friday and Saturday nights.
The students did all the work for the production, advertising of the production and the meal, according to Alex Jackson, special projects coordinator for the school district.
In the hour before Saturday night's performance, students were working hard preparing while enjoying the camraderie of working with their peers.
The stage was set. The tables were decorated. The food was being prepared. The cast was dressed and sharing moments together.
The teachers were overseeing last-minute details.
"This is a shared production between our Culinary Arts program and Fine Arts program," Jackson said. "We also had help from the graphic design and marketing. So all of our students performed different roles.
"They designed t-shirts, they printed posters. They've cooked a full meal -- homemade lasagna, homemade bread, even their noodles are homemade," she said. "Last night (Friday), we were sold out. We had almost 150 people."
"Our students are doing all of the serving," she said. "Every single kid, whether ninth-grader or senior, they had a role -- they had three choices, food production, planning or food service and hospitality.
"Graphic design did photography, 3D printing -- these are 3D printed," she said. "They did the menu, the designed the table scapes."
The meal was served during the intermission.
"These kids have been here all day today; they were here all night last night," Jackson said, praising the hard work and creativity of the high school students.
Senior Josh Walker said he thoroughly enjoyed the cooking.
"Edwards says I'm sort of the one in charge," Walker said, as he checked on the roasted Italian vegetables, referring to teacher Angela Edwards.
"He has a great eye for plating," Jackson said of Walker.
"The orange shirts they're wearing, the marketing students designed and printed them," Jackson said.
"This is a huge project for our Walton Foundation grant," Jackson said. "That's how I got the opportunity to be involved."
Col. Mustard was portrayed by junior Hutchinson Kelso.
"I'm having tons of fun," Kelso said. "This is one of the biggest productions we've put on since I've joined theater. It's so much fun to be able to act with everyone, be in character and just have fun with it. We have all these walls to flip around so we can have different rooms.
"It took a lot of effort to get here," he said. "I'm really proud of where we are."
The play is based on the screenplay by Jonathan Lynn, written by Sandy Rustin, with additional material by Hinter Foster and Eric Price and based on the Paramount pictures motion picture based on the Hasbro board game Clue.
"Clue is a hilarious farce-meets-murder mystery," according to the promotion posted by teacher Alexandra Mann on social media.
Mann said the show is "fully student led" and students created the sets, props, costumes and worked through the scenes.
"The tale begins at a remote mansion, where six mysterious guests assemble for an unusual dinner party where murder and blackmail are on the menu. When their host turns up dead, they all become suspects. Led by Wadsworth – the butler, Miss Scarlett, Professor Plum, Mrs. White, Mr. Green, Mrs. Peacock and Colonel Mustard race to find the killer as the body count stacks up. Clue is the comedy whodunit that will leave both cult-fans and newcomers in stitches as they try to figure out... WHO did it, WHERE, and with WHAT!"
Cast members include newscaster, Lacey Martin; Barrett Easter, McCarthy's voice; Abbie Richards, Yvette; Anna Wilkerson, Wadsworth; Taylor Edwards, the cook; Hutch Kelso, Col. Mustard; Ashlyn Johnson, Mrs. White; Elise Kelley, Mrs. Peacock; Peyton Kitterman, Mr. Green; Lupin Eicher, Professor Plum; Kara Presley, Miss Scarlet; Clear Sky Greenlee, Ms. Boddy; Tyler Yeager, Cop; Shae Callison, the motorist; Elsa Tarnasky, singing telegram girl; Jacob Beyer, chief of police; and Anna Schmidt and Kyler Kasper, cops.
Bright Futures and the Blackhawk Pantry helped provide costumes, propos and pieces of the set.
"Students featured in this production learned about the community-school initiatives and volunteered their time sorting donations and stocking the pantry," according to the play program.
Stage craft workers were Ian Russel and Jaycee Wingette, lighting and sound; Kylee Tidwell, Ireland Arnold, Maliyah Hankins, Abby Jackson and Lizzy Woodruff, hair/makeup/costumes; Taylor Edwards, Jadeh Roberts, Kenneth Burkett, Samuel Eiermann, Cody Gunn, Dominque Oaks, Lila Torrey, Bobby Martin, Mason Walker and Thomas Dadisman, props; and Guadalupe Morena, Lead Adkins, Braydon Cook, Elizabeth Staib, Zander Schupman and Cody Reikman, set. Backstage crew included Clear Sky Greenlee, assistant director; Maliyah Hankins, stage manager; Isabelle Etzkorn and Jaycee Wingette, sound; Kaleigh Snoderly, lights; Kylee Tidwell, Lizzy Woodruff and Maliyah Hankins, costume/ hair and makeup; and Rachel Callarman, Dalton Wilcuts and Jadeh Roberts, crew.
Students from the Food and Safety nutrition class and Culinary I and II worked in various roles to provude the meal.
Annette Beard/Pea Ridge TIMES Senior Josh Walker checked on his roasted Italian vegetables Saturday night as the class prepared for the dinner theater. "He has For more photographs, go to the PRT gallery at https://tnebc.nwaonline.com/photos/.
Annette Beard/Pea Ridge TIMES Helping one another, students prepared for the Saturday night performance of "Clue." Miss Scarlet was played by Kara Presley. For more photographs, go to the PRT gallery at https://tnebc.nwaonline.com/photos/.
Annette Beard/Pea Ridge TIMES Butlers for the play "Clue" included Jacob Beyer, She Callison, Barrett Easter, Kyler Kasper, Elsa Tarnasky, Anna Schmidt and Esmeralda Soto. For more photographs, go to the PRT gallery at https://tnebc.nwaonline.com/photos/.
Annette Beard/Pea Ridge TIMES Senior Josh Walker, right, put food in the oven to warm Saturday night. For more photographs, go to the PRT gallery at https://tnebc.nwaonline.com/photos/.
Annette Beard/Pea Ridge TIMES One last check on costumes and makeup Saturday before going on stage. For more photographs, go to the PRT gallery at https://tnebc.nwaonline.com/photos/.
Annette Beard/Pea Ridge TIMES Professor Plum (Lupin Eichler) checked his attire Saturday night. For more photographs, go to the PRT gallery at https://tnebc.nwaonline.com/photos/.
Annette Beard/Pea Ridge TIMES Students from the Culinary Arts program prepared the plates for the dinner. The orange shirts they're wearing were designed and printed by the marketing students. For more photographs, go to the PRT gallery at https://tnebc.nwaonline.com/photos/.
Annette Beard/Pea Ridge TIMES In a collaborative effort, students from the Performing Arts and Culinary Arts programs hosted a dinner theater Friday and Saturday. the game pieces used in the table centerpieces were created with three-dimensional printing by the graphic design students. For more photographs, go to the PRT gallery at https://tnebc.nwaonline.com/photos/.
Annette Beard/Pea Ridge TIMES The cast of "Clue" gathered before the curtain rose for last-minute encouragement. For more photographs, go to the PRT gallery at https://tnebc.nwaonline.com/photos/.