Clue: On Stage

Written by Sandy Rustin

The comedic murder mystery Clue takes place in Boddy Manor, a large mansion owned by      Mr. Bobby Boddy. When the characters find our they're all being blackmailed, they must result to murder in order to find and destory the evidence against them. This show includes many different room in the mansion including: the hall, the study, the dining room, the kitchen, the lounge, the billiard room, and the library.

In order to create all of these rooms, I designed five large platforms that move on and off stage in a straight line. Together, when all of the rooms are pulled in, they create the manor hallway. In order to gaurentee that the rooms stay moving in only one direction, I used a combination of straight casters and a tracking technique calling "knifing". By cutting "tracks" in the deck we layed on the stage and putting these rectangular pieces of heavy duty plastic in them, we were able to create a system where all of the platforms only move straight on and off stage. 

Other than tracking, there were plenty of moving set pieces in order to represent the study and dining room. We had a door that moved across the stage to open up a fake room filled with all of the extra set pieces.

Overall, Clue was a great experience. From designing it on an airplane to actually building it in real life, I truly enjoyed working on this show.