Sit & Spin Productions premiered its interactive comedy-horror experience “Spoiler Alert: Somebody Dies” this past weekend in Locy Hall — and spoiler alert: somebody died. 

Set in a remote ski lodge, the play depicts eight college friends navigating their personal relationships as they solve the murder of their friend. An emcee also interrupted the action to interrogate characters and banter with the audience. 

Communication junior Stephen Peng wrote and directed the play. After pitching his idea to Sit & Spin’s board, Peng said he received one of the board’s two yearly Artist in Residence slots to put on the play.

Peng said he began writing “Spoiler Alert” in his Introduction to Screenwriting class last spring after having the spontaneous idea to put all of his friends in a dramatic murder mystery. 

“When I was in my playwriting class, I was writing it as … a stage play, so there was no experimental part of it,” Peng said. “I was thinking, ‘This would be really cool if it’s immersive.’”

Though the play began in a classroom set as the lodge’s “living room,” actors walked all throughout Locy Hall during Friday and Saturday’s stagings. Audience members split up to follow the characters they found most compelling as the plot unfolded in classrooms, bathrooms, hallways, stairwells and even outside in the 20-degree weather.

Throughout the writing process, Peng said he couldn’t help but work in his two favorite genres: comedy and horror. He pulled inspiration from the movies “Mean Girls,”“Halloween” and “Scream.” 

Peng said both genres play with expectations, distance and relatability. When writing, he said he leaned into character tropes for comedic effect, like the jock, the cheerleader and the religious girl.

“I split myself into nine different personalities and then put them onto character models that I invented from my friends,” Peng said.

Communication junior Max Reichek, the show’s producer and one of its actors, said rehearsals emphasized building chemistry between the actors.

“There was no formal casting,” Reichek said. “Everyone was invited individually.”

Reichek played Richard, a wealthy and verbose student whose parents owned the lodge. He said he was also responsible for making the production run smoothly, including editing the script, ordering props and reserving classrooms.

Both Peng and Reichek said the production team played a key role in managing and troubleshooting problems that arose from the show’s experimental approach. For instance, Peng said all the light changes were programmed into a phone because the lighting designers did not have access to a traditional light board. Actors took staging cues from the lights changing or flickering.

“We need to give more credit to designers because they work really, really hard, but they’re not the one’s that shine in front of the audience,” Peng said. 

Peng, who is the diversity and inclusion chair of Sit & Spin, also said he prioritized assembling a diverse cast and production team. 

Medill freshman Elizabeth Lowry said she felt captivated and immersed by the play. 

“My body was sometimes wandering, sometimes sprinting, to catch up with the characters with so much liberty in their world and on their stage,” Lowry said.

Spoiler alert: Richard was the murderer. Whether or not audience members solved the mystery before the characters on stage was up to them.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @elizamattson1 

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