On November 27 CCS senior drama presentedThe Fried Kobassa, a comedy by J. Robert Wilkins about missing sausage and the rather incompetent inspector hired to solve the case.
The dinner portion of the dinner theatre evening was catered by the CCS Europe Trip.
Judging by the frequent outbursts of laughter from the audience throughout the performance and the smiles which lingered long after the final bow, everyone was thoroughly entertained.
The play was directed by Simone Homeniuk and Kami Kuhn, while Carter Unick looked after lights and sound. The actors involved in the production were: Avigail Korolski, Alexa Burym, Mia Wolos, Matthew Rock, Jack Craig, Rae-Lee Duff, Logan Grabowski, Abigail Wilson, Josh Bugera and Delilah Wilson.
Set entirely at a Ukrainian summer camp, the audience initially met camp kitchen employees Katelyn and Nicole, played by Alexa Burym and Mia Wolos respectively, who obviously hated their jobs. Their moods went from bad to worse when the cook, played with an appealing comic edge by Avigail Korolski, informed them that they were prime suspects in the case of the missing kobassa.
The cook introduced the employees to Inspector Kapusta, played with comic sincerity by Matthew Rock. Kapusta spoke like an experienced professional, but as time went on, everyone discovered that he really didn’t know what he was doing.
Kapusta started making his rounds, meeting Samantha, played by Jack Craig, and Amy, played by Rae-Lee Duff, two campers who were having very little success with their crafting and sculpturing projects. After some heartless badgering, including puzzling questions about visits to the meat market, Samantha confessed, but her confession was for taking cookies out of Amy’s lunch box back when they were in Grade 3.
Kapusta later interrogated Callie and Lindsay, campers and sisters played by Logan Grabowski and Abigail Wilson. He also met Katie and Amber, another pair of campers and sisters played by Delilah and Abigail Wilson, who portrayed two different characters.
As the camp nurse, played by Josh Bugera, was having a discussion with the cook regarding how to get rid of an overabundance of brussel sprouts, Kapusta somehow worked his way into the conversation to meet the nurse, and was immediately infatuated. The nurse suggested he put his “natural charm and intelligence” to work and go undercover to solve the case.
When next we saw Kapusta, he was hiding under a tablecloth, listening to a conversation between Katie and Amber. After discussing a cheerleading routine, they brought up Kapusta’s annoying investigation of the missing kobassa, with Katie chipping in, “That’s so gross, why would anyone, like, want to eat that.”
But no clues came up to help solve the case.
As the nurse started into a lecture to campers regarding the importance of proper nutrition for swimming, Kapusta came in wearing a snorkel, and started asking the girls questions about their preferences for various foods, but still no admission of guilt.
Katelyn entered and started her work, leading to a veiled accusation from Kapusta, “You seem to spend a lot of time here in the dining hall.”
Katelyn responded sarcastically, “That’s probably because I work here.”
Convinced he was about to break the case wide open, Kapusta shot back, “Or is it your love of food, like, for example, fried kobassa!”
Wanting desperately to end the conversation, Katelyn viciously replied, “You know what? If I had some kobassa right now, I’d shove it up your nose and down your throat, just to get you to shut up!”
So, Kapusta was no closer to solving the case.
Meanwhile, Katie and Amber were excited about setting up cheerleader tryouts in the dining room. The cook came in, voiced her displeasure with the idea, and accused the sisters of having the attitude of “look at me, I’m a princess and I always get my own way,”
But Amber replied with a harsh assessment of the cook’s work, “Being a princess is, like, way better than being a stubborn pig. But I guess that explains the food you serve.”
The nurse entered in the middle of the argument and approved of the idea of holding the cheerleader tryouts in the dining hall, reminding the cook, “You forget who owns and operates this camp. I think my mother would approve of this activity.”
The nurse then mysteriously asked Katie and Amber, “Do you have an extra flyer? I know someone who would be very interested in these cheerleader tryouts.”
The tryouts took place the next day, led by Katie and Amber, with Lindsay, Callie. Amy and Samantha all ready to show their skills.
Then a late arrival in a blonde wig entered and performed “her” routine, including the line, “Our team loves fried kobassa, Rah, Rah, kobassa!”
Samantha, sensing that something just didn’t seem right, removed the blonde wig, and sure enough, it was Kapusta, once again in disguise. But he still couldn’t get a confession from anyone.
After confessing to the cook that he hadn’t solved the case, Kapusta found himself alone with the nurse, and admitted, “This is the best case I ever worked on, because I met you.”
Kapusta and the nurse embraced and they left together in their own happy ending, making it appear as though the audience would never find out who was the culprit.
But in the final scene, Katie joined Katelyn and Nicole on stage, carrying a suspicious looking grease-stained paper bag. She opened the bag and asked, “Would you like some fried kobassa?”
Overall, Homeniuk said the evening went very well, with 85 dinner plates and 29 show tickets sold.
“A lot of great feedback on the homemade perogies and the kobassa.”
Homeniuk said all the work that went into the evening was well worth the effort.
“It was a challenge because of the many other commitments that these students have,” she said. “They were a very fun, creative and energetic crew to work with.”
