The Game’s Afoot – community theater brings silly fun to Vallejo

VALLEJO – “The Game’s Afoot” is equal parts comedy and mystery. The play, written by award-winning playwright Ken Ludwig, opened on Friday at Bay Area Stage Theatre in Vallejo, where an all-volunteer cast finds the humor in this meta murder mystery.

The play’s actors play actors who find themselves trapped at the scene of a terrible crime. In the play, stage actor William Gillette, played by Bryan Pro, invites his castmates and a surprise guest to his home over the Christmas holiday. The guests banter in dueling Shakespeare quotes, as their interpersonal conflicts and intrigues are gradually revealed. A murder soon turns the party at the isolated mansion into chaos. Well-timed comic antics build to hilarity in the second act.

The Bay Area Stage cast includes seasoned actors and people who have never set foot on a stage before. Theater co-founder Stacey Loew helped coach the budding thespians on acting technique, but said the most important thing a director can tell their actors is to have fun. “They're having a good time on the stage and because of that the audience enjoys it more,” Loew said.

Kimberly Taylor gives a strong performance as the much reviled theater critic Daria Chase. Her masterful physical control is as impactful as the delivery of her lines.

Glenda Zahradka shines as Gillette’s devoted mother and Patrick Atkinson is outstanding as the jealous husband Felix. The cleverly built set delivers a quirky surprise, and elegant costuming adds to the ambiance of the full-length play.

Loew describes the play as “silly fun.” “We want to do theater that appeals to all kinds of people,” Loew said. “We just came off of ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,’ which was more of a heavy thing, so we wanted to do something lighter.”

With no funds to hire set builders, directors and costumers, Loew and theater co-founder Jeff Lowe oversee those tasks themselves. Loew took up costuming out of necessity but said, “it gets under your skin and I love to costume shows now.”

“The Game’s Afoot” was originally scheduled to run in December, but ramping up after the pandemic when many actors had holiday travel plans made casting difficult. “We had already planned the set and everything else, so we just said ‘let's go with it,’” Loew said.

Bay Area Stage Productions nonprofit community theater was founded in 2009 by Loew and Lowe, who both have extensive theatrical resumes. Most of their shows were held at the Fetterly Playhouse until it closed in 2014. Bay Area Stage Theatre found its permanent home at 515 Broadway St. in Vallejo’s Little Mexico neighborhood in 2016.

The converted warehouse space has tiered seating, high quality stage lighting and great acoustics. There are no bad seats in the house. A beautifully preserved whiskey billboard from the 1940s adorns a brick wall. Volunteers chipped in to build the seating platforms and dressing rooms in true community theater spirit. The stage was a gift from Vallejo Music Theater, a former Fetterly tenant. The black velvet curtains were donated by Benicia High School.

Bay Area Stage survived three years of pandemic darkness by the grace of their landlords who were flexible with the rent. Loew ran a thrift store out of the theater that helped pay the bills.

The first few shows held after reopening were sparsely attended, but ticket sales are picking up. What better way to emerge from the winter of our discontent than with silly fun?

“The Game’s Afoot” plays Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through March 5.

The next upcoming show is a stand-up comedy performance, “Laugh Your Taxes off!” with comedians Steve Mittleman and Jeff Applebaum on April 14 and 15.

For tickets and more information visit bayareastage.org.