Apex High School’s theater department, Apex Peak Players, performed its fall play this past week from the 24th to the 26th. It is a performance of the 1970 play Done to Death, a seasonally-appropriate comedic take on the murder-mystery genre, written by Fred Carmichael.  

The play takes place over one night and is character-driven, surrounding five has-been authors, who seem to be down on their luck, getting caught up in a series of murders. They each have distinct personalities that require them to be well-acted, and the cast of Apex Peak Players delivers just that. It is very easy for a play like this to have an issue with pacing— it’s harder to keep an audience’s attention when a play takes place in one setting, over the course of one night. But Ms. Levine’s cast was up for the challenge, and the result is a well paced fun time with moments that left the whole audience laughing. 

The play, as previously mentioned, follows five mystery writers, who are brought together when they are invited to a mysterious mansion under the pretense of being a part of a collaborative piece. However, things begin to take a twisted turn when they discover that they have been lured there by someone with a much more sinister agenda. 

The writers find themselves caught up in their own murderer mystery— with one of their own being murdered. The others must use their experience writing these stories to become detectives and uncover the murderer amongst them. The play’s dialogue is witty and its twists are unexpected, keeping audiences guessing — and laughing— all along the way. The storytelling aspect is arguably the heart of the play, and the sequences when the authors are telling their own stories as they are being acted out on stage is done brilliantly by the actors involved. 

Each cast member gave a standout performance, skillfully capturing their character’s quirks. Standout performances came from Ethan Yunker, whose comedic timing and stage presence as the anxious and unsure Brad Benedict kept the audience engaged throughout. Fionn Borgeson and Shiloah Paxton stole the show as Mr. and Mrs. Olive, their chemistry on stage helped build the suspense, even as they made the most of every punchline.