If you’ve enjoyed the excellent performances by History Alive! Inc. with the interactive and “moving” production of Cry Innocent, then we are here to advise of a 2nd production it presents in Salem, titled Goodnight Captain White. But— this is just a bit different.
Running Oct. 24th, 25th, 31st and November 1st. at Old Town Hall, this comedic-mystery retells the not so well-known true event of the 1830 murder of Salem Sea Captain Joseph White:
It’s 1830. “All friends and well wishers are invited to attend” the retirement party of Captain Joseph White’s favorite ship, the Caroline. But this magnanimous invitation lures a host of enemies and ill-wishers into the perfect opportunity to murder the rich, old captain. Allegiances twist and turn. Foibles are exposed, depravities revealed. It’s up to the audience and an under cover Daniel Webster to figure out whodunit and how.
Written by Mark Stevick and directed by Kristina Wacome Stevick, the tale is about the real Captain Joseph White, a rich, elderly, retired shipmaster, who was murdered while sleeping in his Essex Street home. It has all the elements of good book, movie or TV episode: local folks among the accused & guilty, and a high-profile prosecuting attorney in Senator Daniel Webster, hired by the White family to prosecute for the Commonwealth.
But where is the comedy? Goodnight, Captain White is not a reenactment like Cry Innocent. “We’re not sticking to the exact history here,” Mark Stevick has commented previously. “We follow the original story, but we’ve cut and combined to make for a more high-energy, comic period piece.”
Kristina Wacome Stevick has also stated “Is it right to laugh about terrible behavior? To do so doesn’t mean we endorse murder, adultery, slavery, betrayal. In our laughter we release the tension of recognition. As we watch these extreme fellows careen toward their comeuppance, we’re relieved they are not ourselves and we cringe at the thought that they could be, were our circumstances less privileged or graced.”
Use of innuendo, double entendres, a bit of improv from the actors, and even input from you, the audience, to help uncover & define the clues makes for a lively evening— that has nothing to do with ghosts, goblins or ghouls. Just a nice murder mystery.
Doors open at 7:15pm for “noshing and revelry.” Show begins at 7:30pm. The price of admission includes soirée fare and a “Crowninshield Punch.” For more information email historyalive@gordon.edu or call 978-867-4767.
