As part of the “Spring Thing” weeklong celebration at Seton Hill (SHU), the university brought the ACME Mystery Company to campus April 15. The company performed Harry Crocker and the Saucerer’s Stove as a murder mystery dinner theater in Lowe cafeteria.
The title alone gives away that the show was a parody of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. From the characters’ names to the ludicrous events that transpired, the whole act was uproariously funny.
Students and audience members met the characters prior to the act, many of which poked fun at anyone in their path. They also distributed speaking parts to the audience, getting viewers involved in cheesy and often hilarious ways.
Each character was played flawlessly.
The best character was Professor Snape, or “Professor Severus Crepe” as Harry Crocker deemed him. His comments were cuttingly sarcastic and his audience interaction impeccable.
The character of Herhiane (pronounced “Her- hiney”) Granger provided a slew of suggestive and laugh-out-loud, offensive jokes. Even the minor mishaps in the act were played off with chuckles.
At one point, Professor Alpus Fumblepork forgot his part, saying, “Damn it, I forgot my line!”
The last main character, Professor Minerdna McMonolog, kept “getting ill” during the production. She intentionally fell repeatedly onto different students in the audience, getting lots of laughs in the process.
At the end of the act, the audience again had a chance to participate by submitting answer sheets outlining their thoughts on the murderer of Harry Crocker and the motivation behind his death.
Ultimately, the who-done-it was solved and the murderer revealed. It turns out Herhiane Granger shot and killed Lord Moldytorts after he drank a potion that made him look like Harry Crocker.
Prizes in the form of award sheets were given out for the three best correct answers. Prizes were also given for the three worst answers, all of which were quite funny.
The end brought lots of applause and cheering from the audience.
“It was a really fun spoof of Harry Potter, and I liked how they used the dining hall because it’s so much like Hogwarts,” said freshman Krysta Berg.
The food served during the production was fabulous, making the atmosphere and the fun even greater. SHU’s own Darren Achtzen made delicious Butter Beer. The fact that the event was free made it even better.
Freshman Chelsea Rickert put it best: “It was a blast and a half!”