It Ain't Me, Babe

Most of you already know by now, but if you didn't get it yet, the big excitement of my weekend was performing in the Quyon Lionettes Murder Mystery. I've had to keep it "on the down-low", as we try to keep the cast as secret as we can. For those of you who were there, I hope you had a good time and enjoyed the show!

Here's a little re-cap of how the murder and everything that came after went down:

This year, the play was set at Nick's Country Bar (which was a huge coincidence, with Nick Matechuck owning Gavan's just down the street - that was one detail of the original script we didn't have to change!) I played Mara Landers, a waitress at the bar. The rest of the cast included: Curtis Hudson as Jack Henry, the bartender at Nick's; Mark Richardson as Dennis Chase, aka Johnny Nash, the bar's entertainer; Kenny Fleck as Alec Blaney, the drunken magician; Adam Bernier as Sean Wells, aka Benny Lloyd, the crooked politician; Lynn Kearns as Chole Belisle, the barfly; Tracy Hamilton as Joy Darby, the bitchy psychic; Erin Hudson as Amber Welby, the snooty best-selling author; Kevin Trudeau as Jordan Woods, the dead guy; and Billy Young as Doug, the ex-football player-turned-private investigator.

If you've ever been to a Murder Mystery, you know how it works - somebody drops dead, the cop does an interrogation of each of the suspects, and then we spend the next four scenes pointing the finger at one another and defending ourselves. Only the murderer is allowed to lie, and the only person who knows who the murderer is is the murderer him/herself.

Of course, there's a little drinking along the way. Or a lot of drinking along the way. I don't know if there were any of us who weren't feeling pretty good by the time the show wrapped. There was even at least one person who doesn't even remember being up there for the last scene. (Not me. I remember being there, even if I was a little unsteady on my feet).

But let me tell you, what a rush! I absolutely love it. Sure, I was nervous as hell beforehand, thanks in large part to the fact that I had to do a brief duet with Mark to kick off the show. (If I ever hear the words It ain't me, babe, no, no, no, it ain't me you're looking for, babe again anytime soon, I might kill myself). But once that part was over, it was all fun and games. The ad-libbing was in full force, and it was absolutely impossible to sit up there and not laugh at some of the stuff the rest of them were coming up with.

So this year, my character was a little more fun to play than the bumbling clairvoyant I had to be last year. I got to do a little line dancing, talk with a twang, make fun of "Johnny", and do a little flirting all at the same time. It will take me a while before I stop greeting people by saying Howdy, y'all!! In the end, Lynn in the role of Chloe was the murderess - never saw it coming. I was floored. She did an awesome job; everyone did! I'm going to miss going to practices and hanging out with the gang - we made a good team.

Today, I've got a hangover and very sore feet from prancing around in my c'boys all night, but other than that, I think we can call Murder Mystery 2006 a success.

But now I really, really have to go to bed.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

It ain't me, babe. No, no, no - It ain't me you're looking for, babe...