A new theatre production features a cast made up entirely of local youths with an independent spirit.
Kill Joy is a murder mystery written and directed by 15-year-old Jacob Hunter, a student at Centre Wellington District High School (CWDHS).
“We started around December last year and finished the copy on Easter,” Hunter said. He credits the play’s producer, 15-year-old Chloe Crawford, for editing the script.
Together with a cast and crew made up of friends from CWDHS ranging in age from 14 to 17, Hunter has started a new theatre group, Arlekins Theatre Productions.
“I am really into theatre,” Hunter explains. “I have been in many plays with different theatre groups myself. But for this play, I just felt I had the need to write.”
His play takes place in Chicago during the late 1960s, where a murder has taken place, an innocent man has been accused and the work of a female police officer uncovers more than anyone wants her to know.
Inspired by his fascination with the shroud of mystery around the murder of John. F. Kennedy, Hunter says his play is “loosely based on his murder.”
Making the play a reality is bittersweet for Hunter, who started the project with the support of his grandfather Bruce Hunter of Belwood, who passed away in October.
In his honour proceeds raised from the play will go to Vets Without Borders, a program Bruce Hunter worked with as a professor at the University of Guelph.
Kill Joy runs from Jan. 20 to 22 at the Fergus Grand Theatre. Tickets are available at www.fergusgrandtheatre.ca or by calling Jacob at 519-362-5577.
