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Murder mystery at Lake Placid High School

From left, Lake Placid High School seniors Lindsey Rath, Aidan Mellin and Adalyne Perryman are pictured at rehearsal for “Meddling Kids.” The play is part of the school’s tradition of producing original murder mysteries, and it’s also Perryman’s senior project with her as writer and director. (Enterprise photo — Griffin Kelly)

LAKE PLACID — For the past 20 years or so, the Lake Placid High School has been putting on an original murder mystery play. It’s a tradition that’s become synonymous with the school — kind of like the Winter Carnival. This year, Senior Adalyne Perryman will continue that tradition.

Perryman’s play, “Meddling Kids,” will premier this Friday at 7 p.m. in the LPHS auditorium.

The play follows a group of high school students at a dance in the 1970s. After a classmate Michelle dies, everyone becomes a suspect. It’s up to Jennifer, the sleuth of the show, to find out whodunit. Was it the jock, the prep, the stoner or the girl with the thick southern drawl?

“Meddling Kids” is also Perryman’s senior project. Every year, Lake Placid seniors are assigned a project with the goal of impacting the community in a positive way.

“My project will be focusing more on personal growth,” Perryman said. “Also, all the donation will go to the senior class and the drama club. So it’s a balance.”

Hayden Plank (left) and Jameson Batt rehearse for “Meddling Kids” at the Lake Placid High School Thursday, Sept. 19. (Enterprise photo — Griffin Kelly)

Perryman had the idea to write and direct the play in her junior year. She began writing at the beginning of August this year. She said time has been tight, but she’s happy to be part of the production.

“It’s a bit stressful right now as it is crunch time,” Perryman said. “We were never given a lot of time to build our plays and create them. Last year there was no murder mystery. So that was also a worry, but I’m very proud to be carrying on this tradition everyone loves and enjoys. I’ve gone to the murder mystery every single time I could and I’ve always loved them.”

Hayden Plank, a year-round athlete, plays Jason, a jock. Plank said the character isn’t much of stretch for him.

“I play hockey, lacrosse and soccer, so I don’t think I have to act too much,” he said. “My guy is pretty mellow and not too eccentric. I just have to kind of get into ‘jock-mode.'”

This is Plank’s first performance in a high school play, but he said the murder mystery has been part of his family for years.

From left, John Swinyer, Marina Gonzales and Sandra Harper rehearse for the murder mystery play “Meddling Kids” at the Lake Placid Middle-High School Sept. 19. (Enterprise photo — Griffin Kelly)

“My grandma used to direct the plays, and she told me she always had a blast doing them” he said, “so it’s nice to be part of that legacy.”

Isabella Read, who plays Jennifer, said she’s known Perryman since kindergarten. Read said working with a student director has been productive and fun.

“It’s definitely been interesting,” she said. “She’s really good at getting us all together and organizing. I’m impressed.”

Read is also an artists — cartoons, sculpting, painting, photographing — and she also wants to pursue an art-focused goal for her senior project.

” I feel like Lake Placid has done a really good job with sports, science, the arts — really pushing it to another level,” Read said. “They give it the respect I deserves. I feel like here, they really understand the importance of art and how it affects the community. I’ve gone to a lot of different schools throughout my times moving, and Lake Placid has definitely had the best art programs and opportunities for me to do what I do.”

This isn’t Perryman’s first foray into the world of theater.

“I’m going to brag for a second here,” she said. “I won the Pendragon Theatre Youth Playwright Competition twice.”

That’s actually how she got into working with theater. In her freshman year, Perryman’s creative writing teacher assigned the class to write a one act play and submit it to the competition. She won it that year. Wrote another one the next year just for fun, and won that, too.

“So writing is not new to me,” she said. “However, being the director for a all these kids is a little difficult because they also see me as a peer. But I like them, they like me and they’re all excited to be here, so it works.”

Perryman would like to pursue a career in theater, but she admitted its a difficult field.

“We’ll see how the economy works,” she said. “Winning a Tony wouldn’t be bad, but if I end up writing for small theater, that would be cool, too. Writing anything sounds nice.”

If you go..

What: “Meddling Kids”, a murder mystery

Where: 34 School St., Lake Placid Middle-High School

When: Friday at 7 p.m.

How much: Donations appreciated

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