A bit about the play…

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Premise and Setting

It is a dark and stormy November night in 1998.  The staff and last living relatives of ailing billionaire Simon Starkweather have gathered at Starkweather Mansion, a home in the middle of the woods, far from civilization. Soon, the announcement is made: Simon has changed his will, and come the next morning, all of them will be disinherited! Following a power outage, Simon is found dead in his room and, due to the storm, the phone lines are out and the only path back to civilization is unsafe to travel.

With almost everyone having a motive to kill, this murder mystery will be one to remember!   Why? Because this time, the audience decides the killer! With nine possible suspects, each performance will be a different show!

CAST:

Starkweather Family

Simon Starkweather:  The curmudgeonly and tyrannical old billionaire and patriarch of the family.

Fiona Starkweather:   Simon’s niece by marriage and Jordan’s mother. More than a little scatterbrained and easily flustered.

Jordan Starkweather:   Simon’s great nephew and Fiona’s son. A smarmy and manipulative playboy desperate for fortune.

Paula Thompson:   Simon’s great niece from the American South. Very much a Southern Belle.

Simon Starkweather III:   Simon’s only grandson and a college student.

Mansion Staff

Bensonhurst:   The older and formal butler at Starkweather Manor.

Mrs. Trent:   Mr. Starkweather’s dour and serious housekeeper

Minerva Walker:   The Manor’s temperamental and sarcastic chef.

Nancy Pollard:   A shy young girl working as a maid for the Starkweather family.

Rufus Jones:   The surly and at times incompetent groundskeeper/handyman.

The Professionals

Lois Van Zandt:   Mr. Starkweather’s lawyer with an all-business attitude.

Miss Withers:   Mr. Starkweather’s stern, no-nonsense nurse.

Kathy Collins:   The bright and self-assured personal secretary to Mr. Starkweather.

Mike Davis:   A smart and tough Private Detective hired by Mr. Starkweather.

Gene / Jean Culpepper:   The stressed director.

Application for Drama Camp 2025

ApplDramaCamp2025_20250530_0001Download

Students who wish to attend Drama Camp must understand that:

  • They are required to leave their phones in a a dedicated safe container while they are attending.
  • They are required to treat everyone involved in Drama Camp with consideration and respect.
  • They are required to sign in and sign out every day

DCT at Dunnville Public Library

A big thank you to the Dunnville Public Library for letting us display photos and memorabilia from Dunnville Community Theatre’s 50th Anniversary.  These items will remain on display for the next few weeks so please, drop by the Library and have a look through the many photo albums, posters and theatre programs from the last 50 years!  

Upcoming events and entertainment 2025:

In January of 2025 we let our community know about the history of our club by having a display of our 50 years of achievements in the Dunnville Public Library

April 25 & 26 we had an impressive booth at the Dunnville Lions’ Home and Garden show to advertise our club, our Drama Camp and our Kids Zone production – which you can see during the Mudcat Festival on June 14th in Central Park

June 20, 21 & 22 we will be performing our play Murder at the Mudcat Mardi Gras. This is a fun and funny murder mystery where you get to guess who the murder(s) is/are. Friday and Saturday will be dinner theatres, Sunday will be a luncheon. Every show will have a lovely meal catered by Debb’s, with the sale of liquor available at each.

August 18- 22 and 25-29 we will be hosting our annual drama camp for students who will be attending grades 4 to 9 in September of that year. Classes are limited to 15 students per class.

In November we will be performing a Murder Mystery which allows the audience to choose the ending they would like to see. This is a new foray for us and it will be directed by our newest director Gordon Huffman. It should be very interesting. This will be performed over 2 weekends with Saturdays being dinner theatres and the other performances being standard evening or matinee performances.

For more information about any of these things please send an email to info@dct73.com

DCT’s 2024 Season

NEXT – Dunnville Community Theatre takes it on the road

In this year of our 50th Anniversary we had a special opening event: a traveling show presenting a home grown play called NEXT. The play was a comedy about, well, speed dating and grief. We know that doesn’t sound very funny but it was.

The play’s synopsis: When 12 lonely people, at loose ends with their lives attend a disorganized speed dating event, at a local pub, it takes a missing person and Tom Jones to help them see that they might be in the wrong place at the right time.

We could not have produced this monumental step in our history without the very generous grant we received from 100 Women Who Care Haldimand and the exceedingly gracious sponsorships we received from these local businesses: Cooper Funeral Home, Liz Koster Real Estate, Hedley, McLachin & Attema, Dunnville Lion’s Club, Ruffins Pet Supply, Duliban Insurance, Hauser’s Pharmacy, Grand Erie Home Hardware, Ed Robinson Homes, The Minga, Good Looks Hair Design, Houghton Sloniowski & Stengel, Lynn Adams RE/MAX Escarpment Realty Inc and Nigh’s Conrete. We also received generous donations from Private sponsors. We are so very grateful to have had such outstanding support. Thank you all so very much!

Drama Camp 2024

Oh what fun we had! This year we ran drama camp at full capacity and it was a wonderful experience for students, helpers, our most excellent teachers Ellie Bloomfield and Dana Hauser. It takes a village of volunteers to provide this fully funded exuberantly fun program to the youth of Haldimand County.

We are so grateful for the generous funding we received (again) from the Rotary Club of Dunnville and for our sponsorships from Hauser’s Pharmacy (again) and Wes Moodie (also again). With out the fantastic support from our community we could not make this happen and it is SOOOO worth it!

“The Diary of a Burning Woman” comes to the Optimist Club in Dunnville!

Thank you for supporting live theatre in Dunnville!

What do you get when you put together Christmas Eve at the Cooked Goose Tavern, Ebenezer Pennypincher and a ghostly apparition bent on revealing the truth? A wonderful mixture of delicious food and lots of fun!

Join us as we close our 50 Years of Live Theatre celebration with a murder mystery dinner and luncheon, where you put on your detective hats and help us solve the crime.

Before the show, we encourage you to view memories of past productions at your leisure, purchase tickets for our Penny Sale and perhaps put in a bid on a beautiful Jim Camelford print in our Silent Auction.

We are so excited for this time of celebration! Be sure to get your tickets soon. Tickets must be purchased by November 8 and seating is limited for each performance.

We can’t wait to see you there!

The Diary of a Burning Woman

It’s Christmas Eve and the grand opening of “The Cooked Goose” Tavern. Your hosts, Agnes and Ebenezer Pennypincher, are on hand to make sure you enjoy your evening. However, there is someone else attending who has a different idea.

The DCT is thrilled to announce our November production of “The Diary of a Burning Woman”, a Murder Mystery dinner/theatre and luncheon/theatre, as the finishing piece of the celebration of our 50 Years of Live Theatre!

As well as wonderful food and show, each performance will have the added features of a Penny Sale (the winner of each item will be announced at the final show on Sunday), a Silent Auction of a Jim Camelford print at each performance, and 50 years of memories with a screening of pictures. We encourage you to come early to reminisce with us!

Tickets must be purchased by Friday, November 8

Get your tickets soon! Spaces are limited to 80 people per show.

Only 5 tickets left! Friday, November 15 – Doors open at 5:30pm, dinner and show start at 7:00pm. Dinner is catered by Debb’s Cuisine and will be Christmas-themed. Tickets are $65.00 pp. Cash bar.

Only 3 tickets left! Saturday, November 16 – Doors open at 5:30pm, dinner and show start at 7:00pm. Dinner is catered by Debb’s Cuisine and will be Christmas-themed. Tickets are $65.00 pp. Cash bar

SOLD OUT! Sunday, November 17 – Doors open at 12:00pm, luncheon and show start at 1:30 pm. Luncheon is catered by Carol’s Kitchen. Tickets are $45.00. Not a licensed event.

Cash, Debit and Credit Cards will be accepted at the venue.

Yeah! Drama Camp is back.

These guys had a fantastic time learning and playing while gaining confidence in their capabilities.

Good news everybody Class Act returns.

Dunnville Community Theatre will be hosting Drama Camp again this summer. We are thrilled by this because we know how good this is for our community and for the youth who participate.

  • Date are:
  • August 19-23 – for youth entering grades 4-6 in September 2024
  • August 26-30 – for youth entering grades 7-9 in September 2024

All classes will be held in the upstairs hall of the Optimist Club in Dunnville – 101 Main St E. Applications are available at Dunnville Library or by e-mailing dramacamp-24@dct73.com

This program is fully funded and includes snacks during nutrition break.

Registration & Auditions

DCT is looking for 15 actors to play characters from the ages of 18-80 in our home grown 1 Act Play called NEXT.

In a nut shell the play is about this:
When 12 lonely people, at loose ends with their lives attend a disorganized speed dating event, at a local pub, it takes a missing person and Tom Jones to help them see that they might be in the wrong place at the right time.

DCT is doing something a little differently for our up coming production of NEXT . Since we require 15 actors for this play, we would like to ensure that we are making good use of everyone’s valuable time by scheduling half hour time slots for people to audition.  So we are asking people to register.

You may register for an audition by coming to our registration session on Monday January 15th from 6:30-9:30 pm at the Optimist Hall of Dunnville OR you may request a registration form by e-mailing next@dct73.com.
Why come in person? You get to meet the writers, ask questions and introduce yourself in person. You will also get a look at our rehearsal space.

The play will be performed at these places on these dates:

  • Dunnville Airport Museum RCAF#6: June 14 & 15, 2024
  • Fisherville Lions’ Community Centre: June 22, 2024
  • Jarvis Lions’ Community Centre: September 14, 2024

Most characters will have dialogue of 3-5 minutes so this is a great place to begin if you are new to the stage.

We hope to see you come out and join what should be a fantastic event!

If you have any questions that are not answered here you can call

DCT’s 2023 Season

2023 opened with Having Hope at Home a funny & charming story of a daughter wishing to give birth at home, while trying to convince her obstetrician father that it was the right choice to make.

As part of our 50th anniversary celebration DCT entered a float into the Dunnville Mudcat parade this year. The theme was Rock & Roll. We did our best to represent rocks stars from the last 5 decades. We may have fallen a little short but we sure had fun!

Thanks to the generosity of our sponsor, Liz Koster and the loan of the great trailer from Ed Robinson Homes and the Art work from our pal Judy, the float looked pretty good.

Drama Camp 2023 was a great success again this year. We had 2 great classes and 3 awesome sponsors (The Rotary Club of Dunnville, Hauser’s Pharmacy & Wes Moodie Realty) to make this happen. And once again we had lots of learning and even more fun! Don’t miss this annual event. Last 2 weeks of every August.

For our Fall production we choose to do The Lion in Winter. A period piece with great costumes and lots of drama. There was also excellent humour in this play with truly wonderful performances by the hard working and talented cast. The venue – Knox Presbyterian church in Dunnville provided an atmosphere that made the audience feel like they were actually in a castle. We also had great sponsors for this show.