DROP DEAD (A comedy murder mystery) - by Billy Van Zandt and Jane Milmore

“Drop Dead! will make your jaw drop and your head spin almost simultaneously, but you will be laughing the whole time!” 

This screwball comedy is a play within a play, with a truly bad script and out-of-control egos. An odd-ball cast of has-been actors revive their careers in “Drop Dead!,” a potboiler murder mystery directed by a character named Victor Le Pewe. At the dress rehearsal, the set falls, props break, and the producer and an actor are murdered. But the show must go on!  During the opening night performance, the murders continue. The remaining thespians must save the show and their careers, solve the mystery, and stay alive for curtain call.

“Drop Dead!” is a hilarious play within a play ….  all about a really terrible stage production, similar to "The Play That Goes Wrong". Most of the action takes place on a stage that has to be transformed to resemble the low-budget “off-off-off-off Broadway” stage called for in the script.

The stage, which is said in the script to have been created on a $35 budget, is complete with uneven walls and defective props. Even the furniture is painted into the background.

At Town Players of New Canaan, we're so used to doing all the little things that make a set look really good, this is gonna be a challenge to continually remind ourselves NOT to do those things, and rather to make the set look the part!  Should be a blast! 

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TOWN PLAYERS OF NEW CANAAN - HISTORY OF THE POWERHOUSE THEATRE

In 1979, the original Power House to the Waveny Estate, located in what is now Waveny Park, stood empty and purposeless, falling prey to vandalism and deterioration. At the same time, the Town Players of New Canaan were looking for a home, a place to store costumes, build sets and perform. It was a perfect match that the abandoned building and the homeless Town Players should come together. The task of restoring the powerhouse and converting it to a theater, however, was a monumental undertaking and required serious fundraising and the efforts of hundreds of volunteers over a three-year period.  The result is a intimate 115-seat theater for the community to enjoy.

Since opening in 1983, the Town Players of New Canaan at the Powerhouse Theatre has performed hundreds of productions, staged readings, special events, theater educational classes and workshops, run children’s programs, etc., and is still going strong.  During Covid, we had a few months to step back and re-evaluate, and we decided it was time to come back even better!  In working again with the Town of New Canaan, we will be doubling the size of our lobby, updating to current ADA compliant restrooms, and hopefully establishing the additional Shed Theatre on the property to expand our theater education program, and well as providing a black-box theater for unique and intriguing productions.

The Town Players of New Canaan is an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) non-profit community theater now in our 76th Year.  Established in 1946, we moved from place to place until finding our forever home.  We hope you will join us in your support of the new Powerhouse Performing Arts Center.

Visit TPNC.ORG website