Tag Archives: And Then There Were None

For one Wyoming resident, theater life can be murder

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Cathy Van Lopik reprises her role as Emily Brent in the upcoming production of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” at Grand Rapids Civic Theatre.

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org

Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Was None” is one of Cathy Van Lopik’s favorite plays. So when she learned that both Jenison’s Shadblow Theatre and Grand Rapids Civic Theatre had included the famous murder mystery in their 2018-2019 season, it was a given that Van Lopik was going to audition.

“I knew I was going to audition for both shows in the hopes that I might get into one,” said the Wyoming resident. “There was a chance I might not get into either, but I was going to try.”

She ended up landing a part in both shows, portraying Emily Brent this past summer for Shadblow Theatre’s production and a role she will reprise for the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre’s, which opens Jan. 11 at the theater, located at 30 N. Division Ave.

“When I came in for rehearsal, they were like ‘You already know your lines, right? You’re off book already,’” Van Lopik said with a laugh.

With a different director comes the opportunity to explore the character of Emily Brent from another viewpoint.


“You see a different aspect to the character,” Van Lopik said. “(Director) Bruce Tinker has a different take and will say something like she could be responding to something this character said and it gives you a new perspective as to why why she is saying this particular line.”

Brent is one of 10 seemingly normal people who are invited to stay at the isolated Solider Island off the Devon coast of England. Once a gramophone announces the group’s sins to all the other occupants, things start to get interesting and people start to disappear.

“Basically you put 10 strangers in a room and give them a crisis and watching how each of these people deal with it is very interesting,” she said. “Each of these 10 people have an individual way of handling this situation making it a compelling look at human nature and how people react.”

Van Lopik is a familiar face to the theater scene in Grand Rapids, having worked with Master Arts Theatre for several years, currently serving as the director of the group’s traveling troupe. She also has performed and directed a number of shows, including the 2017 Van Singel Fine Arts production of “Willy Wonka The Musical.” However, this is the first time Van Lopik will perform on the Civic stage.

“It just hasn’t worked out before,” Van Lopik said. “I’ve had other things going on or it just didn’t work.

“I have auditioned before and there is so much talent in the area, that you just don’t get the role. Having been a director, I know how it feels when you have two or three people who would be great but you can only pick one.”

Van Lopik will be back in the director’s chair after “And Then There Were None” wraps. She will be directing “Sunshine Boys” at Holland Civic Theatre, Feb. 11 and 12; and “Around the World in 80 Days” for Master Arts Theatre, June 6 – 22.

That’s of course is if Emily Brent survives the island escapades in “And Then There Were None.” To find out if she does, you’ll have to catch the show, which runs Jan. 11 – 27. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Wednesday – Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $18 – $29, with student pricing $16. For more on this production or other shows at Grand Rapids Civic Theatre, visit grct.org.

Snapshots: Wyoming and Kentwood news you need to know

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WKTV Staff

joanne@wktv.org

 

 

Quote of the Day

"I would travel only by horse, if I had a choice."- Linda McCartney

 

 

Come One, Come All

 

Patrons visit the GRAM for free during ArtPrize.

The Grand Rapids Art Museum recently announced it would be part of the Museums for All programs, providing free admission, for up to four people, with the presentation of a SNAP Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card; commonly known as the Michigan Bridge Card. The GRAM joins the Grand Rapids Children Museum and the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts in offering free and reduce admission. The Grand Rapids Symphony has the Symphony Scorecard program, which provides up to four free tickets to those receiving financial assistance from the State of Michigan and/or are active, reserve or guard military families.

 

 

A horse is a horse, of course, of course…

 

Bill catches up with an old friend at Lee’s Summit Equestrian.

WKTV volunteers Bill and Charlotte Rinderknecht have hit the road in search of stories about horses and the people who work with them for their documentary series “Horses and Their People.” Follow the couple as they journey through the United States, visiting ranches and exploring the local culture of the communities they visit.

 

Feeding the Mind and the Body

 

Snatching up the snacks

During the summer, Kent District Library’s newest branch, the Kelloggsville branch, has been participating in The Meet Up and Eat Up program. Sponsored by the state, the program is designed to bring nutritious meals to lower income areas. Set to wrap up this week on Aug. 17, the KDL Kelloggsville Meet Up and Eat Up served students living near the high school, where the facility is located. As KDL Executive Director stated “Feeding the minds, imaginations and spirits is something that we have always done at KDL, but now we are literally feeding hungry people.”

 

 

 

Murder She Wrote

 

The cast of the upcoming production of “And Then There Were None”

At first, no one wanted to produce the play version of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” because they insisted that the storyline wouldn’t work on stage and that people would laugh at it. In 2015, it was voted the World’s Favorite Christie having been made into several movies with such groups as the Superman comics and “Family Guy” making parodies of it. This weekend you can catch several local residents as they perform the murder mystery at the Jenison Theater of the Arts, which has productions running Aug. 17-19 and 24-26. If you can’t make that production, Grand Rapids Civic Theatre will be offering a production in January. In between the two productions, you can always read the book.

 

Fun Fact:

17 hours

That is how long it took to make all the costumes and puppets for the Broadway production of Disney's The Lion King. It took 750 pounds of silicone rubber with the tallest animal being the 18-foot giraffes and the smallest being a five-inch trick mouse on Scar's cane. You can see it all next year as Broadway Grand Rapids recently announced that Disney's The Lion King will be part of its 2019-2020 season.

Area residents come together to present Agatha Christie’s most famous mystery

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The cast of the upcoming production of “And Then There Were None.”

By Josh Kennedy

WKTV Intern

 

Decades before Gillian Flynn wrote “Gone Girl” and long before Dennis Lehane penned “Shutter Island,” Agatha Christie wrote “And Then There Were None,” one of the best selling murder mysteries in history.

 

This story will be brought to stage Aug. 17-19 and 24-26 at the Shadblow Theater at the Jension Center for the Performing Arts, with many of the actors hail from Wyoming and Kentwood. 

 

“And Then Where None,” original written in 1939, is a murder mystery that will keep the audience guessing until the final act. This psychological thriller follows a group of seemingly normal people who are invited to an island retreat by an eccentric millionaire. Once a gramophone announces the group’s sins to all the other occupants things start to get interesting and people start to disappear. 

 

“I think to be able write like Agatha Christie, you would have to draw on the people around you in life,” said Director Kristin Tomlin. “And the characters in here, some of them are so much large than life, that you must think, she must know someone like that.”

 

Cathy Van Lopek portrays Emily Caroline Brent

This is fairly evident as the various cast members describe their characters. After all, who hasn’t run into someone like the fanatically religious spinster Emily Caroline Brent, portrayed by Wyoming resident Cathy Van Lopek.

 

“She is very judgmental about everybody she comes across,” Van Lopek said. “I don’t think there is a human being living on the Earth who meets her standards.”

 

Then there is the action-first, think-later Capt. Philip Lomard, played by David Cobb.

 

David Cope is Capt. Philip Lomard

“He’s the adventurer,” Cobb said. “The man of action. I think he is the first one who gets a little suspicious about everything.”

 

Also among the guests is former detective William Henry Blore. “He is not a very good detective,” said William Cope who plays Blore. “He is kind of incompetent and bites at every single red herring that is offered.”

 

The storyline itself — which is based off an old children’s rhyme — is a difficult one that very much intrigued the author.

 

“One thing she said about this play is that the idea of it was so challenging and so difficult to her she just had to do it,” Tomlin said. “She just had to try and write it.”

 

William Cope (right) is William Henry Blore

In fact, at first, no one wanted to produce the play version of Christie’s “And Then There Were None” because they insisted that the storyline wouldn’t work on stage and that people would laugh at it. In 2015, it was voted the World’s Favorite Christie story having been made into several movies with such groups as the Superman comics and “Family Guy” making parodies of it.

 

Who’s pulling the strings and who is just trying to stay alive? You’ll just have to catch the show, Aug. 17-26, to find out. Show times are 7:30 p.m Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays at the Jension Center for the Performing Arts, 8375 20th Ave., Jenison. Tickets are $16.50/adult, $13/seniors who are 60 and older, and $8/students under 18. 

On the shelf: ‘And Then There Were None’ by Agatha Christie

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By Megan Andres, Grand Rapids Public Library, Ottawa Hills Branch

 

Originally published as Ten Little Indians, And Then There Were None invites ten complete strangers to a weekend getaway on a fictitious island outside of Devon, England. The host of the weekend is a millionaire who is nowhere to be found. Each guest was invited by the host under a different name.

 

Sounds like a classic mystery novel from Christie. Wait. It gets much better.

 

While most murder mysteries feature one crime, And Then There Were None tells the story of murder and mayhem over an entire weekend. The story is set to the tone of a nursery rhyme called Ten Little Indians. In the rhyme each little Indian meets a horrible fate. It’s no coincidence that there are only ten house guests.

 

Agatha Christie was no doubt the Queen of Crime when it came to the modern murder mystery. Her narrative style is enough to hold the reader by itself. Each of the ten characters is completely developed and faces their own demons as the weekend continues. Wicked pasts cannot be hidden. The rhyme ends with, “One little Indian left all alone; He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.”

 

Take a look at And Then There Were None to find out who survives the weekend.