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Robbinsville High School Raven Players Present Comdey 'Is He Dead?' November 17-19, 2011

The Robbinsville High School Raven Players are producing the hilariously witty and well-crafted comedy Is He Dead? by Mark Twain which will be performed on November 17, 18 and 19 at 7:30 pm in the RHS Performing Arts Center.  Is He Dead? portrays Jean-Francois Millet, a young painter of genius, who is in love with Marie Leroux but in debt to a villainous picture-dealer, Bastien Andre. Andre forecloses on Millet, threatening debtor’s prison unless Marie marries him. Millet realizes that the only way he can pay his debts and keep Marie from marrying Andre is to die, as it is only dead painters who achieve fame and fortune. Millet fakes his death and prospers, all while passing himself off as his sister, the Widow Tillous. Now a rich “widow,” he must find a way to get out of a dress, return to life, and marry Marie.

Is He Dead? not only provides laughter, it also provides an opportunity for students to learn about the life and works of French painter Jean-Francois Millet as well as famous American author Mark Twain. A study guide for the play will be used in classrooms in multiple disciplines as students explore the significance of both Twain and Millet’s works.

The cast and crew of this fall’s hilarious production of Is He Dead? spent six weeks engaging in an improvisational comedy workshop with local actor and theatre studio owner Jody Wood as they prepared to perform their first farce in four years. They will share their newly honed comic skills at Take 5 Gourmet in the Foxmoor Shopping Center on November 9th at 7:00 pm as they do improvisational scenes in the style of the popular television showWhose Line Is It Anyway?

With only four graduating classes under their belt, the Robbinsville High School theatre program has graduated students in both acting and design to top conservatory programs such as Tisch School of the Arts, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Emerson, and Elon. Graduating students have earned full scholarships for college for both performance and production. Over the last six months, RHS alumni have successfully entered the New York theatre world as Katrina Pallop (class of ’08) wrote, starred in, and directed a play picked up by the off-Broadway Woman at Work Festival and Laura Williams (class of ’10) spent the summer working in the prop shop for The Public Theatre building props for Shakespeare in the Park.

Tickets for Is He Dead? will be available at performances on November 17, 18, and 19. The price of admission is $8 for students and $10 for adults.