The play Reunion in Bartersville may deal with the ugly subject of murder, but the only real emotional danger to be had is laughing too hard.
This is a classic murder mystery with colorful characters that have their own motives for killing that are revealed as the play proceeds.
In this case, the play centers on the reunion of the high-school class of 1933.
Old classmates come together 50 years after they graduated, and the murder of one classmate at the hands of another is what is on their minds.
A.J. Hamm, the character accused of the murder is played by Hawthorne James, who has appeared in such movies as The Five Heartbeats and The Color Purple.
He is thought to be dead, but when Janie Mae Hopper, played by Amentha Dymally, gets a call from someone who sounds remarkably like Hamm, long-forgotten memories begin to surface.
What gives life to an often clichéd genre such as the murder mystery is the effortless chemistry of the cast.
That’s true with this production.
Aloma Wright, known for her role as nurse Laverne Roberts on the television show Scrubs, gives a sensuous sassiness to Pollina Wright, who brings her much younger husband, Ronnie Davis (Thomas Anthony Jones) to the reunion.
Mitch Ward is appropriately theatrical as Perry Roussel, an actor who isn’t as success-ful as he’d like to be. His wife, Liz Roussel, is played by Charlene Tilton, who many may remember from the primetime soap Dallas. But the one who garnered the most laughs was Jeris Lee Poindexter, who played Cous Pickett, whose mouth often gets him into trouble.
The end result is a play that mixes large doses of comedy with a smidgen of drama that touches on class divisions. The transition from comedy to drama is rough at times, leaving the audiences wondering whether to laugh or cry. And the actors’ microphones didn’t always work, their voices fading in a few minor instances.
But the performances are almost flawless, making this a murder mystery that isn’t murder to enjoy.
■ Michael Hewlett can be reached at 727-7326 or at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
■ Reunion in Bartersville will be performed at 3 and 8 p.m. today at the K.R. Williams Auditorium at Winston-Salem State University. For tickets, $40, call 723-7907 or visit http://www.nbtf.org.