Students perform a murder mystery in the midst of a bingo game

When someone thinks of high school theater the first thing that may come to mind are stage productions put on in a dark auditorium, though the Dartmouth High School Theater Company’s upcoming show “Murder at the Bingo Hall” is anything but.

Instead, students will be performing the show in the high school cafeteria where they will at times be nearly face-to-face with the audience.

“In shows like this, the audience is part of the show,” said Juliana Mallowes, who plays a character named Betty. “We get them to be part of the show and we bring them into the scenes in a lot of different ways.”

As Betty, Mallowes will be going around the room talking with audience members, who will be playing 10 rounds of bingo alongside the murder mystery as part of a fundraiser to raise money for the students’ trip to New York City.

“I really enjoy doing fundraising shows because I get to do things like this where I interact with the audience, and a lot of that is really fun,” Mallowes said.

Written by executive producer of Southcoast Children's Theatre Denis Lawrence Jr., “Murder at the Bingo Hall” is a comedy and murder mystery set inside a bingo hall. The cast of characters play rounds of bingo in the midst of attempts to uncover the murderer.

“Throughout the [bingo] games that the audience plays, we find out what happened and who did it and who was involved,” said senior Lily Duval, who is directing the show.

To put the show together, Duval created the way she wanted the characters to act and cast the actors after auditions.

When she first sat down with the script she read it through eight times, each time through the lens of a different character, and sat with the script to determine how she thought the characters acted.

“I kind of closed my eyes, and I was like, ‘What would this character do in this moment? Where are they? Who are they sitting next to? Who do they like? Who are they more talking to? Who don’t they talk to?’” Duval said.

She added that she let the actors play with their monologues and work with the space of the cafeteria.

Raquel Franzo plays the sheriff who is trying to solve the murder case while the other characters play rounds of bingo.

She said that since “Murder at the Bingo Hall” has never been performed before, Duval and the actors had the freedom to do what they wanted with the characters.

“I hope that everybody gets the chance to do what they want to do with their character, and be proud of what they did when they leave the cafeteria,” Franzo said.

Brady Jackson, who plays “Bobby the Bingo Ball’ — a walking, talking bingo ball — said one challenge for him has been knowing how to perform when the audience is seated on all sides of the stage.

“When you’re in here, you have to play to every side of you,” Jackson said, “And so that’s what I think is the hardest thing to do.”

Noah Clark plays a character named Marvin, who he described as “very monotone.”

“I’m just standing in one spot the whole time calling numbers, being monotone,” Clark said, “But there are people interacting with the crowd, making sure the crowd has a good time.”

He said that “Murder at the Bingo Hall” isn’t a show meant to be taken seriously and is a “very fun time.”

He added, “If you have nothing to do on Saturday night, just come on down and turn your brain off and just enjoy what we have to offer.”

“Murder at the Bingo Hall” will be a one-night-only show and will be held on Saturday, April 11 at 6 p.m.

Tickets cost $20 and are available on the Dartmouth High School Theater Company’s website. Tickets can also be reserved by either calling or texting 508-441-4602. The show will take place at the high school cafeteria, located at 555 Bakerville Road.