On Friday evening, the UNM Experimental Theatre opens its doors for “The Murder Room,” a play put on by SCRAP Productions, a student theatre organization. Moy Hinojos, the director of the production, says the show is a comedy.
“It is a murder mystery farce, so there is a killing and cops who come in and try to solve a murder,” Hinojos said. “Then things get complicated when the main character’s daughter comes back from America and brings a brand spanking new fiance, which complicates things.”
Hinojos said that he decided to do “The Murder Room,” which was written by Jack Sharkey, as a tribute to his first directing mentor, who directed the show about seven years ago. Hinojos worked as the assistant director during that production.
Hinojos said that organizing this particular play has been challenging, but rewarding. The biggest issue he said he has faced is the time constraint.
“There are a lot of mechanical aspects to the show — there are a lot of trap doors, secret drawers...there is a bunch of physical comedy. There are people running in and out and people on bikes that run across the stage,” Hinojos said. “It is a huge production, so it was a challenge getting the actors to develop a character so they could have fun and so the audience could have fun.”
Kevin Holman, the scenic designer for “The Murder Room,” said that this has been one of the most intricate sets that SCRAP has worked on.
“We have a portrait that falls off the wall and hits an actor on the head. We have a window seat that opens up with a staircase below it, and functional doors and stairways and landings and floating stairways in the air,” Holman said. “It is all super technical for a show.”
Holman said that the set is a combination between a box set — which create the illusion of a room’s interior on the stage — and abstract thinking.
“The stairs, the missing floor boards and the empty picture frames are symbolic of the insanity that happens in the show and trying to keep track of everything that is happening,” Holman said.
He said the set is not the main focus, though. Rather, it is just one working part of the production.
““It is just a supporting role in the story that the director and the playwright are trying to tell,” he said. “It is there to help all of it come to life.”
According to Holman, the set feeds into the comedy and confusion of the show’s storyline.
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“The comedy is so great and funny and ping-pongs back and forth,” Holman said. “As an audience member, it is hilarious, but you are still trying to connect all the dots too, so you are like, ‘Wait, what am I even watching?’”
Hinojos said that the show goes deeper than its comedic elements as well.
“Laughing is definitely the goal here, but because of the themes of the show, it might make people question, ‘I wonder how I would look at that,’ or, ‘Is that how I come across to certain people?’” Hinojos said. “One of the themes that came out that was most prevalent was how we take things at face value and never look deeper. I think that is something that audiences can walk away with.”
Hinojos added that comedy often makes people feel honest, and that this play in particular is relatable, especially for students.
“There is identity crisis, there is (the theme of) whether you are in the right place in life or not, there is (the theme of) whether or not the choices you are making are correct and whether the person you love is the right person for you, which is a very universal theme,” Hinojos said.
According to Hinojos, the cast and crew have worked tirelessly for four weeks and are well-prepared. He said he is most excited to see how they fare on opening night.
“There is something about having an audience that changes the way a performer does things,” Hinojos said. “You can come see the show on the last day of dress rehearsal and then come see a completely different show on opening night.”
The show opens on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in the UNM Experimental Theatre, and will run for the next two weekends. The full schedule can be found at theatre.unm.edu.
“If you’ve never seen a play in your life because you think that theatre is boring, this is the play you need to see to change your perspective,” Hinojos said. “This is not your melodrama. Nobody here crying on stage is going to try to make you drink your sorrows at the end of the show.”
Ariel Lutnesky is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @ArielLutnesky.
