Showing posts with label The Perils of Francois. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Perils of Francois. Show all posts

A Decade of Francois!


Happy anniversary, Francois!

2024 marks the 10th anniversary of my first interactive murder mystery play that was commissioned by producer Melanie Roady for her theater, Mel O' Drama Theater, in Nashville, TN. Based on characters created by artist Jann Harrison, the subsequent play was entitled THE PERILS OF FRANCOIS. Since then, it has gone under a title change for marketing purposes and is now called DEAD TUESDAY, as suggested by another producer, Jerri Wiseman of the StageCoach Theatre Company in Virginia for its second production.

Since that time, DEAD TUESDAY, the little show that could, has been produced by several companies across the country and is gearing up for two new shows for 2024.

The first, on February 17, is being staged by Resounding Performing Arts in Williamsport, PA, just after Mardi Gras in New Orleans' where DEAD TUESDAY is set.

Then, my buddy Roscoe III of San Luis Valley Theatre Company tackles the Francois Fibian saga for two nights in May in Alamosa, CO. Roscoe previously produced my other murder mystery, MURDER: THE FINAL FRONTIER not once, but twice (!) in 2017 and 2021.

Previous productions of DEAD TUESDAY by these fantastic theater groups:

2014: MEL O'DRAMA THEATER NASHVILLE, TN 
The original Mack Daddy production!

2015:STAGECOACH THEATRE COMPANY LOUDON COUNTY, VA

2016: SUGAR HIGH THEATRICALS GALESBURG, IL

2017: ROGUE THEATER COMPANY STURGEON BAY, WI


2019: DELTON ACT DELTON, MI

 
2019: SANZMAN PRODUCTIONS LOS ANGELES, CA


 
2022: STATE COLLEGE COMMUNITY THEATRE STATE COLLEGE, PA

I thank you and Francois certainly thanks you as well.
And Happy Anniversary, you amphibious sonuvagun!

Previous blogs about DEAD TUESDAY:


A FROG BLOG-The story behind the story of DEAD TUESDAY

DEAD TUESDAY: MEET THE BOUDREAUXS!-A script excerpt, the opening scene of DEAD TUESDAY


Performing rights for DEAD TUESDAY are available for amateur and professional theater groups.

For more information and to obtain a full perusal script, please contact: 

Scott Cherney 

writtenbysc@gmail.com





Dead Tuesday: Meet the Boudreauxs!


The opening moments of DEAD TUESDAY (formerly known as THE PERILS OF FRANCOIS), an interactive murder mystery script written by Scott Cherney that was commissioned ten years ago by producer Melanie Roady for her Melo O' Drama Theater in Nashville, TN.

Set in New Orleans, DEAD TUESDAY tells the tale of international playboy Francois Fibian as he attempts to solve a murder at a Mardis Gras celebration in the French Quarter. Unfortunately, he has his own problems. He's been placed under a voodoo curse that is turning him into a frog. Yes, really.

(Bob Boudreaux enters to a fanfare of “When the Saints Go Marching In” wearing a tuxedo and a Mardi Gras eye mask. He pulls it off and gregariously greets his guests.) 

Bob:  Greetings and salutations, you lovely, lovely people! Welcome to the Big Easy at the best time you’ll ever have into your entire life-Mardi Gras time! It is an honor and pleasure to receive you here in my home-not only New Orleans but in my ever-so-humble abode. I am speaking about palatial Boudreaux Manor, the crownin’ jewel in the tiara known as Vieux Caree-or as you might call it, the French Quarter. Allow me to introduce myself to those of you out of the loop for one reason or another and for those of you that are just plain loopy-slow down on them Sazeracs now, especially the distinguished members of the press that we have here tonight. I know how you newspaper people are. It’s early yet. My name is Bob Boudreaux and this is indeed my family estate. Pretty, ain’t it? You make yourselves to home now, y’hear? 

Bunny: (off) Bobby Lee? Bobby Lee! 

Bob: Relax, folks. That’s not the smoke alarm.

Bunny: (off) You gonna introduce me or what?

Bob: I was fixin’ to. 

Bunny: (off) Well, get to it then!

Bob: Those liltin’ tones belong to my co-host for this evening and in life itself, put your hands together won’t you please for my darlin’ wife, Mrs. Bunny Boudreaux!

(Bunny Boudreaux enters, also resplendent with a colorful Mardi Gas eye mask on a stick.)

Bunny: Hey, y’all! How you doin’? Thanks for comin’ out tonight. (to Bob-sotto) About damn time. I was growin’ moss back there.

Bob: Green’s a good color for you, cherie.

Bunny: Black’s gonna be a good color for your right eye if’n you mess with me tonight, Bobby Lee.

Bob: Ain’t she sweet? That’s why I call her my lil’ Bunny Beignet. Sugar, why don’t you tell the nice folks about our benefit this evening?

Bunny: I’d be happy to, honey, if you’d jus’ give me some room. (hip bumps him) See if you can rustle me up a beverage, would you now? As the chairman of the Bunny Boudreaux Foundation, it is my duty to pick a specific charity to honor at each year’s Mardi Gras Ball here at Boudreaux Manor.  The proceeds for this year’s charity event go to the Save the Louisiana Nutria Fund. I don’t how many of you realize how many of these furry critters are hunted for their pelts and many consider them to be pests. Why, it’s said that they are destroying the wetlands by gnawing their way from one end of the Mississippi River to the other. Why, I think that’s a crime. Feast your eyes on this here cute lil’ fella. (holds up poster board of an orange-toothed nutria) Look at that lil’ sweetie! I call this one Mr. Chompers. Yes, his pelt would make a warm pair of fuzzy slippers. But honestly, is this not the face of an angel? So tonight, dig down deep and help this poor defenseless critter before he ends up on somebody’s feet.

Bob: Thank you, that was inspirin’. (to Bunny) Put that ugly rat down. Folks are goin’ to eat soon. (to crowd) Ladies and gentleman, what say we get this party started? As y’all know, it’s Mardi Gras and now’s the time to kick up your heels higher than they’ve ever been kicked before! So as we say In the Big Easy: Laissez les bons temps rouler! In other words, let the good times roll! 

Bunny:  Oh, my land! All this excitement has left me positively parched.  Fetch me a drink like I asked you to, Bobby Lee.

Bob: I think maybe you should pace yourself tonight, darlin’.

Bunny:  Why, Bobby Lee, how you do go on. I haven’t had a drop this entire evening.

Bob: That’s because you emptied the entire contents of the liquor cabinet this afternoon.

Bunny: That’s not true. I didn’t touch the vermouth. I’m thirsty, Bobby Lee!

Bob: It’s like I’m married to a camel.

Bunny:  Don’t speak to me that way, not now, not here, not ever. I don’t have to remind you of who’s in charge here, do I? This may be Boudreaux Manor, but don’t forget who’s paying for all of this. I am. You’re so broke that it no joke. 


Bob: Bunny, there is a time and a place for everything. This is neither one. If you’re thirsty, then go suck on an ice cube. (wind howls off) Whoa! Where’d that wind come from? Listen to that outside. Weather report didn’t mention any storm a’comin’. 

Bunny: There’s more where that came from.

Bob: What’s that supposed to mean? You think you’re Mother Nature or do you think you can buy the weather too?

Bunny: Would you like to find out? Like I said, I require a beverage, Bobby Lee.

Bob: I wish you’d stop calling me Bobby Lee.

Bunny: Why? Cuz that’s what your mama called you before she tanned your hide?

Bob: My mama never tanned my hide. She got the nanny to do it.

Bunny: How embarrassing for you.

Bob: Until I got older, then I grew accustomed to her spanks.

Bunny: Do you expect me to listen to your disgusting stories without a drink in my hand?

Bob: (sighs) Will you promise to sip it slowly like a lady?

Bunny: I’ll even extend a pinky finger.

Bob: Someone please fetch Mrs. Boudreaux a cocktail so I may continue. Ladies and gentleman, I would like to bring to your attention that tonight we will be graced by a very special guest of honor.  My very good friend, media mogul and philanthropist, Mr. Francois Andre Midas Fibian the Fifth should be joining us momentarily.

Bunny: Where is your boy anyway?

Bob: He’ll be here.

Bunny: We’re all waitin’ with bated breath.

Bob: What kind of bait…night crawlers? No wonder you drown them with alcohol. (wind howls again)

Bunny: I’m warnin’ you…

Bob: You are positively delusional, cher. (to audience) Don’t you fret about that wind, ladies and gentlemen. It’s too early in the year for hurricane season here. Even if we were, we’d just hunker down inside here and have ourselves a good old fashioned hurricane party.

Bunny: If not, maybe we’ll just drink a bunch of hurricanes anyway.

Bob: As if you need an excuse.

Bunny: Bobby Lee…

Bob: Bunny Boo Boo…

Bunny: (taken aback suddenly) You haven’t called me that in a month of Sundays. You used to whisper it in my ear.

Bob: Cher, with all your quirks, annoyances and foibles, you must know how I really feel about you. Why do you think I stick around?

Bunny: You mean it’s not just my money?

Bob: Well, not just the money. It’s also the honey, Bunny. 

Bunny: Robert E. Lee Boudreaux, you are still one sweet talkin’ devil.

Bob: Deep down you know there’s nothing that can ever come between you and me…

(Enter Dee Dee Demure, borderline trashy with several strands of Mardi Gras beads around her neck and mask.)

Dee Dee: Yoo-hoo! Mr. Boudreaux! Here I am!

Bunny: (breaking away from Bob) What is that two dollar tramp doing at MY Mardi Gras Ball?

Bob: Dee Dee? She’s my personal secretary.

Bunny: How…personal…is…she? (Bob clears throat uncomfortably)

Dee Dee: (to audience) Hi! Good to see you. Oh, what a bunch of colorful people! Y’all look like a big bowl of Froot Loops. (to Bunny)Evening, Miz Boudreaux. Can you guess who I am?

Bunny: One of them Kardashian girls?

Dee Dee: Land sakes! (pulls off mask) No, it’s me, Dee Dee Demure.

Bunny: I was close.

Dee Dee: Mr. Boudreaux, I am so sorry I’m late. I’ll be glad to work overtime whenever you want.

Bunny: (to Bob) How can you pass up an offer like that?

Dee Dee: I had some trouble getting here. The weather outside is positively frightful. There are trees blown over everywhere and a power line is down on my street. That wind is so strong, I could barely walk the streets.

Bunny: (after a beat) This is what y’all call low hangin’ fruit.

Bob: Well, we’re so glad you made it safe and sound, Miss Demure.

Bunny:  And look all the lovely beads you have.

Dee Dee: I got all these from some nice boys on Bourbon Street. All I had to do was…

Bob: Yes, we know how you got them. 

Bunny: And so many too. No wonder you’re late. 

Dee Dee:  Miz Bunny, may I say what an honor it is to be here tonight for such a worthy cause. Eating right is so important these days.

Bunny:  Say what?

Dee Dee:  Your charity. (Bob and Bunny look confused) I’m a firm believer in good nutrition. 

Bob: No, Miss Demure. This is about saving the endangered nutria.

The illustrious Mr. Chompers

Dee Dee: What’s a nutria?

Bunny: (holding up poster) This is a nutria.

Dee Dee: (shrieks) Eek! That looks like a vampire beaver!

Bunny: That’s Mr. Chompers!

Dee Dee: Oh, I’m sorry, Miz Bunny. Is he kin?

Bunny: (about to smack Dee Dee with poster) Why you…

Bob: Bunny! Calm down, darlin’. She’s jus’ confused is all.

Dee Dee: I apologize, Miz Bunny. My nerves are a lil’ on edge after walkin’ through the French Quarter at night all by myself.

Bunny:  May I ask why didn’t you bring an escort?

Dee Dee: That’s what else happened. He bailed on me at the last second.

Bunny: I’m sorry, what? He posted bail for you?

Dee Dee: No, he ditched me. Can you believe it? Honestly, the nerve of some people. But there was no way I was going to miss this party so I decided to show up stag.

Bunny: I’m sure it’s not the first stag party you’ve been to.

Dee Dee: Oh, Miz Boudreaux! (laughs, then suddenly) I don’t get it.

Bunny: No, but I’m sure you will. (turns on her heels, glares at Bob as the wind howls) You hear that, Bobby Lee? I am only going to say this once. You best be on your best behavior…or else. (walks out amongst the audience) Enjoy the festivities, y’all! Where is that man with my cold drink?

Copyright 2013 by Scott Cherney 

Based on characters created by Jann Harrison


Performing rights for DEAD TUESDAY are available for amateur and professional theater groups.

For more information and to obtain a full perusal script please contact: writtenbysc@gmail.com



A Frog Blog

Way back in the last decade (seems like yesterday, eh?), I started sending out my melodrama scripts once again in hopes of someone, ANYONE, wanting to produce either SONG OF THE CANYON KID or LA RUE'S RETURN on their stage. Sho' nuff, luck smiled down upon me and a couple of theaters took the bait. I felt like I was on a roll and dove headlong into my role as Independent Playwright, a title I gave myself since I couldn't get my work published. Well, fooey to youey, play publishers. I'll do it myself so NYAH! (so bleedin' mature, ain't I?)

One establishment I contacted was actually named Mel O'Drama Theater located in Nashville and son of a gun if I didn't get a bite. Melanie Roady, the owner/operator/namesake of M O'D had particular interest in LA RUE, but after reading it decided it didn't fit her particular format. You see, her group specializes in interactive murder mysteries, something I would have known if I had only read the website instead of taking the name at face value. What do you want from me? If I go to Barney's Beanery, I expect to see beans on the menu, not cupcakes.

However, Mel had a proposition for me. Would I like to try my hand at one of her shows based on her outline? Oh and by the way, the main character is a frog who solves the crime.

"Why sure," I agreed. "Wait a hippity-hoppity second here...a frog? A frog frog? Is this a Muppet murder mystery? Oh, a frog man. Like a scuba diver. Nooo...a man with frog-like characteristics. Okayyyyy...."

Francois is a character created in a series of paintings by artist Jann Harrison who also resides in Nashville. Jann has conceived a whole mythology that go along with each piece she's painted. So Francois is a suave, debonair bon vivant who is, to use her words, "a man in transition".
 http://www.jannharrison.com/

I agreed to pen a script but I was under a very tight deadline and the challenge itself proving rather daunting. Murder mysteries are not my first love and red herrings do not sit well in my tummy tum tum. Then to transform this man-frog, frog-man, lily pad lover to the stage and make him palatable as a main character was just icing on the fish cake.

What prompted me to continue was that the story was set in New Orleans, the same setting for LA RUE.which is what interested the producer in the first place. I'm crazy in love with the culture an lore of  N'Awlins, so I added Mardi Gras to the storyline as well as a touch of voodoo here and some Cajun spice there.

After two and a half weeks of banging my head against the wall trying to figure out the intricacies of who killed who and with what and how , I turned in a script with two possible endings (different killers for different nights). Challenge accepted, challenge met. 

This gig led me to a follow-up the next year with Mel O'Drama, STAR TRUCK: THE WRATH OF COMIC-CON (now retitled MURDER-THE FINAL FRONTIER) Both shows have been produced by several other theater groups across the country and their subsequent successes I owe totally to Mel Roady, the one and only, a true Theater Angel.

Such is the power of networking. 

And I'm hungry for more

UPDATE: THE PERILS OF FRANCOIS has been re-named DEAD TUESDAY,  thanks to Jerri Wiseman of the StageCoach Theatre Company

DEAD TUESDAY is available at SCOTT CHERNEY'S STORE or to read a free excerpt go to my website WRITTEN BY SCOTT CHERNEY

Performance rights are available. For info, write to me : writtenbysc@gmail.com

Tell 'em Francois sent ya.

Dead Tuesday


International playboy Francois Fibian is the one one who can solve the murder of a prominent new Orleans socialite during a Mardi Gras costume ball, but unfortunately, he has his own problems. Someone is trying to frame him for the crime. To make matters worse, a a voodoo curse is turning into a frog.

Yes, really.

Written by Scott Cherney with characters created by Nashville artist Jann Harrison, DEAD TUESDAY is a comic, mystical interactive murder mystery play with Louisiana flair, Cajun spice and beaucoup fun

 
Cast of Characters
Bob Boudreaux-Oozing with Southern charm and smarm, Bob is the host of a Mardi Gras ball in his French Quarter family mansion.
Bunny Boudreaux-Bob’s wife, rather a bully of a woman who now owns the Boudreaux name, is loud and often obnoxious. In her defense, she’s also possessed by the spirit of a long-dead voodoo priestess.
Dee Dee Demure-Bob’s personal and very private secretary. Dumber than a box of rocks or is she the most devious one in the room?
Lola Piccard-A wronged woman in love with a man who doesn’t know she exists. She gives airs of being a woman of mystery and high drama, though it’s only a ruse to cover up her broken heart.
Inspector Pierre Perrier-A French policeman with a very obviously fake accent who is actually Dee Dee’s cousin Dennis, a nitwit of the highest order.
Francois Andre Midas Fibian V-An international playboy, philanthropist and all around bon vivant who is going through a transitional phase in his life.  In short, he’s turning into a frog.

Previous productions of DEAD TUESDAY 
Mel O' drama Theater Nashville, TN
StageCoach Theatre Company Loudon County, VA
Sugar High Theatricals  Galesburg, IL
Rogue Theatre Company Sturgeon Bay, WI
Delton ACT Delton, MI
SanZman Production Los Angeles, CA
State College Community Theater State College, PA

Performance rights for DEAD TUESDAY are available for both professional and amateur theater productions including community groups, dinner shows, fundraising events, high school and college drama departments.  

Royalties are $40 per performance. Script fees are completely waived so theater groups may copy as many as they require from a PDF after a signed contract.

For more info and to receive a FREE perusal script, contact me at writtenbysc@gmail.com

CLICK HERE TO READ AN EXTENDED EXCERPT FROM DEAD TUESDAY