THE BODY EXITS SOON
AT MCCONNELLSTOWN

Exclusive to South-central Pennsylvania by
Dan53iel Weston (The 53 is silent)

How many bodies can you stuff into one small closet before they start to tumble out—especially when they appear and disappear with startling rapidity? Find out next week when The Playhouse at McConnellstown presents Fred Carmichael’s venerable 1960’s farce “Exit The Body”. “Exit the Body” is on the McConnellstown boards June 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, and 13. Performances are at 8pm except for Sunday, a 2:30pm matinee. Reservations are encouraged and can be secured at (814) 627-0311.

The year is 1961. A very successful mystery writer, Crane Hammond (Anita Burkhart of Huntingdon), has rented a quirky old house in New England so she can recharge her batteries before she tackles her next best-seller. As Crane’s secretary, confirmed city-dweller Kate (Brooke Meadows of Hollidaysburg) complains about the lack of noise and how many trees there are, we meet the odd collection of locals: Vernon (Patrick Rice of Altoona), the town sheriff and taxi driver; Jenny (Christy Stubler of McConnellstown), the incompetent housekeeper whose idea of an ice bucket is ice cubes in a washing bucket; and Helen (Susan DeMetrick of State College), the busybody realtor who constantly drops in to check on her celebrity renter.

Down the road lives Crane’s best friend Lillian (Rhiannon McClintock of State College), a famous fashion designer who has secretly married her boyfriend Lyle (Gregory Allan Garlock of Petersburg). Among various bodies lurking in that overused closet are petty hood Randolph (William Daniel Daup of Lewistown), who is seeking diamonds hidden somewhere in the old house, and amnesiac Philip (George Baumer of State College), who’s been conked on the head and can’t remember why he’s there. And to top it all off, another unknown man, (Rick Klotz of Huntingdon). Oh yes, there may or not be a murder or two.

So what we have here is are mistaken identities, a hunt to find the body, identify the killer, locate the stolen diamonds, and find out which one of the characters will be the next victim. The production is directed by Jeanne Nagurny of Huntingdon, with sets by Don Dietz of Williamsburg. Lighting is by Keith Sutton of Huntingdon and Barbara Hughes, also will helm lights and sound.

Director Nagurny effervesces when she talks about the play. “It’s just nuts,” she says. “Directing this play is like painting with color-saturated mice. I couldn’t describe the plot to save my life. But I will tell you, you’ll be screaming with laughter, and there isn’t one single morsel of redeeming social significance in the whole play!