Red Herring sneaks its way to Bush Theatre
Tonight, there will be murder, espionage, treachery and romance displayed on stage at Bush Theatre.
“Red Herring,” the first university theatre production to run in the 2009-10 season, opens at 7:30 tonight.
Tickets are available at $5 for students and $7 for the public. They can be purchased at the Central Box Office in the Bovee University Center or at the theatre doors.
“Red Herring” Director Keeley Stanley-Bohn said the play takes a lot from the ’50s era.
“It is a murder mystery that takes place in 1952,” said Stanley-Bohn, an associate professor in the Communication and Fine Arts Department. “It’s a parody of film noir. (The style resembles) any of those old TV shows like ‘Dragnet’ or ‘Hawaii 5-O.’”
But the show also has a pronounced comedic streak running through it.
The play was penned by Michael Hollinger, who Stanley has a lot of respect for.
“He’s a very clever writer,” Stanley said.
A ‘great look’ to it
A great deal of effort has been put forth to convincingly set the stage for this cold war thriller.
“It’s got a great look to it. It’s kind of a film noir theatre.” said Steve Berglund, director of University Theatre.
In particular, he mentioned the great amount of work the set and costume designers did to create a convincing and entertaining period piece.
“(The story) is very integrated,” Stanley said.
Protagonist Scott Freeman is playing an FBI agent set on sniffing out a spy selling government secrets and Katarina Behrmann is a detective investigating a mysterious dockside murder.
Tonight’s performance will not be the first occasion for the CMU players to assume their Cold War personae in front of an audience.
“We (did) three shows in the summer,” Berglund said.
The show received positive responses when it played in Mount Pleasant, Boyne City and Waterford in June.
“Students should really be attracted by the comedy and romance,” Stanley said.
