Murder by Membership Only

“Murder by Membership Only” by Thomas Hischak features an all-female cast…. Kathleen Beuttenmueller as Lydia Beton; Peggy Caldwell as Clarice Furgusson; Vanessa Ceiley as Madame Lecoq; Kerrylynn-Kraemer (director,) as Hester Tandy; Kitty Lynne Klich as Octavia Sturges; Nicole Lett as May Cobbs; Wendy Schuh as Eve Hawkins; Lorraine Selinski as Mrs. Balser and Denise Wilson as Mrs. Plimpton. The setting is the exclusive Orczy Club, an “inner sanctum” for women mystery writers in London. Most of them hate the arrogant Octavia Sturges, the most successful mystery writer of the day, so it is no surprise when she is found dead. But what happens now—should these specialists in murder try to solve the case themselves—at the risk of their own lives. How would it look if a roomful of mystery writers had to go to the police to solve a murder that took place under their very noses? Murder By Membership Only was written by Thomas Hischak, Professor of Theatre at the State University of New York College at Cortland. Hischak was born in 1951 in Rochester, New York, and started writing plays when he was only 13 years old. In high school he was active in theatre and wrote scripts, one of which won a playwriting award when he attended St. Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri. After graduating with degrees in English and Theatre, Hischak taught high school for three years and later attended Southern Illinois University where he received a Master of Fine Arts in Playwriting from the Theatre Department and where some of his one act plays were produced. Hischak’s first play was published in 1977 and to date there are 28 of his plays in print, from adaptations of classics such as “Little Women” and “Jane Eyre,” to original mystery plays to contemporary comedies. In 1996, Hischak’s play Cold War Comedy won first prize in the distinguished Stanley Drama Award in New York City. Hischak is also the author of 17 books on theatre and film, including the prize-winning The American Musical Theatre Song Encyclopedia and The Oxford Companion to Theatre, third edition. Join us for an intriguing evening filled with suspense, laughter and many surprises—and try to guess “who-did it.”