ARTI Review

Ash Merritt
Assistant Editor
  Actors’ Repertory Theatre of Idaho (ARTI) performs many shows. One being The Play That Goes Wrong; this play is a reenactment of the play The Murder at Haversham Manor. The play continues to go “wrong” from the set falling apart to actors being knocked out by doors. The cast of this show consists of Wyatt Parks as Chris, Nate Olaveson as Trevor, Christian Brefle as Jonathan, Casey Wayne as Robert Haversham, Jack Loomis as Dennis, Payton Nash as Cecil, Azucena Luna as Florence Haversham, and Danni Westbrook as Sandra.
  The event starts out with Beci Beck, the director, talking about ARTI and how they are a non-profit theatre with activities to join and many shows to see. These events' funding is from  the sponsors' donations, and the theatre does a giveaway every show. The funding  buys new equipment and caters dinners. After Beck finishes her speech, the show begins with Trevor coming to introduce the premise. Sandra is in the background to fix the set. The set is broken from the start and becomes a running joke through the whole play. Jonathan starts the full play by tripping onto the stage and being the first of four deaths. Florence, Mr. Haversham, Max, and Dennis are the first to see Jonathan's body. Afterward, Mr. Haversham calls Chris to figure out what had happened to Jonathan. Chris, being the detective, runs around to interview each character to see what they had to say about the murder, and he looks for evidence of any clues or leads to this mystery. Within this time, it is found out there is an affair in the mix and a scandal of trying to tempt someone to trust another. By the end, there have been sword fighting, broken decor, poisoning, and the full set falling to pieces leaving the actors to plead for the play to end. 
  By the end of this play, it is as if the audience has become aware of the quirks of some characters who need some “help” to remember their lines and how to say and spell certain words such as cyanide. These become amusing jokes and bring the audience and actors together. 
  The actors have their own quirks out of character as well. Wayne is one of the actors who have been with ARTI since 2016. He explains that he feels that he is a part of the “ARTI family” being able to connect with anyone and everyone. ARTI being diverse and accepting of everyone to join and act with them. Another actor is Olaveson who has done many plays with ARTI and explains he does not enjoy doing “double wide Texas” plays because he loathes doing the heavy accent. 
  ARTI is an experience and a different way to see entertainment. They perform many different shows and it is encouraged to enter an audition or see one of the plays they put on.

​