Portsmouth West Middle School is ready to open curtain on a hilarious, teacher-driven production that will raise funding for the school in coming weeks.

“Talk About Murder” centers around a talk show called “The Ricky and Nickie Rivers Show,” whose guests are scheduled to start their own talk shows. The guests are there to plug their upcoming show, but turns into quite the fiasco when one of the guests gets murdered.

According to teacher and Director Lisa Montgomery, the audience will also be asked to help solve the murder, all the while enjoying dinner and desserts.

A student performance will allow time for the students to ask questions and vote on who they think did the crime and there will also be door prizes.

“Putting this play together has been long coming,” Montgomery said. “We started putting it together when COVID hit. We’ve had to switch some of the original cast, as some weren’t able to dedicate the time, but we’ve finally made it to the home stretch.”

The PWMS ACE program will be given all of the profits from this year’s play. The group has done a handful of performances over the years with the funds being given to different school programs each time.

“The ACE program is one of our PBIS incentive programs,” Montgomery explained. “Every nine weeks, based upon grades, attendance, behavior, students can earn an ACE award. This may get them a trip to the movies, mall, or enter them into a drawing to be able to win prizes that range from tablets, TV’s, food items, games, etc. The proceeds from this play will help purchase prizes, and/or pay for trips, etc.”

Tickets are $15 or two for $25 and includes the show and dinner. Dinner will consist of pulled pork from the Ribber, coleslaw, party potatoes, baked beans, chips, and dessert.

The performance will be held in Portsmouth West Middle School Cafeteria, 15332 B US Hwy 52, West Portsmouth, Ohio. Tickets must be purchased in advance. The performance will be February 24 and 25. Doors open at 5:30, curtain opens at 6 p.m.

“We, the staff and community members involved, have a great time and the students love watching their teachers outside of the classroom,” Motgomery said . “We all have so much fun together putting these together. Many of us have been involved in our productions from the get-go. Some are newbies. Those involved get to know each other outside of the school and become friends, not just colleagues. It has led to several of us participating in outside plays at Portsmouth Little Theater. Three of us were in PLT’s production of “Twelve Angry Women” last spring. The students also get to see us, those who are involved, in a different light. We put this on during the day for the students, who will be able to try to guess who the “murderer” is and will interact with the cast throughout. They talk about it for days, especially Mr. Gray and his wig choice.

Reach Joseph Pratt at (740) 353-3101, by email at [email protected], © 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved