Audience will participate in play

Amy Paterson / photo editor Rosa Bud played by Junior Michele Milam (left) and Edwin Drood, played by Junior Lyndsey Cole (right) are actors playing as actors playing as characters in "The Mystery of Edwin Drood."

If you can’t sit quietly during plays and continually annoy your neighbors at movies, "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" may be the play for you to see.

Set to debut Feb. 22 in Latimer-Shaeffer Theatre,the play loosely is based on an unfinished Charles Dickens mystery novel. The play allows the audience to choose the ending through a series of "unique voting events amid cheers, boos and hisses," according to the theatre and dance department. In other words, the audience helps decide the ending through their responses.

For the cast, the level of interaction will depend on the audience.

"If I could say one thing to the people planning to see the show, I would say expect to personally meet and interact with all the actors," said junior James Myers, who plays a British actor playing John Jasper, an evil choirmaster.

The play portrays a Victorian variety troupe in 1982 producing its own version of the Dickens story. The musical begins as a wealthy young man, Edwin Drood, disappears on Christmas Eve. The outcome of this whodunnit play depends on the responses of the audience.

The play involves the collaboration of more than 100 JMU students and faculty, including 26 cast members, from the theatre and dance department and the music department, a 14-piece orchestra and an $11,500 budget for things like the set, costumes and royalties.

"The process starts at the end of the previous year when we pick the show," director Dr. Norman Hart said. The process involves talent auditions, production meetings, costuming, technical aspects and about 150 hours of rehearsal.

Cast members rehearse more than 17 hours each week, as well as spend extra time on rehearsals, practicing lines on their own and receiving coaching and costuming.

"The difficult part of being a full-time student and being involved in such a production means you are always short on personal rehearsal time," Myers said.

Myers enjoys portraying his character in the play. "With a character like Jasper, you have the opportunity to say and do all the things you’d love to do in real life, but perhaps would not be appropriate," Myers said.

The cast of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" spends a substantial amount of time preparing for the production — but so does the orchestra.

The orchestra practices twice a week for an hour and 15 minutes, said conductor Michael Gerdes. Orchestra members practice twice with the entire cast, though individual actors come in to practice solos at other times.

"[Our orchestra tries] to mix everybody together from the beginning," though it is difficult to have the orchestra and actors rehearsing separately, Gerdes said.

Putting all of the elements in the play also is tricky for the cast. "When we are first learning our lines and stepping into our characters, we tend to rehearse scenes one at a time, which can make it difficult to figure out at first where your scene is in the context of the entire show," Myers said. The show begins to take shape once all the scenes have been thoroughly rehearsed — which is an "exciting experience," said Myers.

The principle cast members are sophomore Matthew Duré as the Chairman, junior Lyndsey Cole as Edwin Drood, James Myers as John Jasper and junior Michele Milam as Rosa Bud.

"The Mystery of Edwin Drood" will show in Latimer-Shaeffer Theatre at Duke Hall Feb. 22 to 26 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 27 at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at the JMU Masterpiece Season box office.