Crime goes humorously awry in Centre Stage’s ‘Murder, Plain and Simple’
No need to look for a deep meaning in Meghan Reimers’ “Murder, Plain and Simple.”
The farcical comedy, premiering at Centre Stage, intends merely to lavish its audience with delight.
“It’s about an evil nephew who wants to kill his very rich aunt to inherit her money,” said Reimers, the playwright. “But things go awry.”
And laughter ensues.
“Murder, Plain and Simple” won Centre Stage’s New Play Festival in 2024 following a staged reading.
Now the farce, set in the early 1900s, is receiving a full production at Centre Stage, June 20-29.
Reimers said the comedy is not exactly a whodunit, but more of a will-he-get-away-with-it?
The play is full of the elements of farce, with witty dialogue, zany characters, hilarious twists and complications, and an abundance of slapstick physical comedy, Reimers said.
How ‘Murder’ began
Reimers, 34, is probably best known in the theater community as a frequent music director and pianist for Upstate shows.
But with a master’s degree in playwriting from Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia, Reimers also taught playwriting for several years at Bob Jones University.
In fact, “Murder, Plain and Simple” had its beginnings in a playwriting class Reimers was teaching. She had just introduced her students to melodrama and asked them to outline a play based on melodramatic conventions.
To be fair, she told her students she herself would brainstorm a play.
The result was the early pages of Reimers’ “Murder, Plain and Simple.”
Next, a two-week deadline to submit the comedy to Centre Stage’s New Play Festival inspired Reimers to dash off the rest of the farce in a fortnight.
The two-act, 90-minute play features six characters, including a conniving niece, a noble lawyer, an uncouth doctor and a scheming gangster.
Reimers, originally from Dover, New Hampshire, has been a longtime Upstate resident. She earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in theater at Bob Jones University.
Want to go?
What: “Murder, Plain and Simple,” by Meghan Reimers
When: June 20-29
Where: Centre Stage, 501 River St.
Tickets: $18.50-$33.50
Info: 864-233-7633 or centrestage.org
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