Lenape High School presents their 2026 fall drama “Clue: High School Edition” on Thursday, Nov. 19, the 20th and the 21st. Based on the 1985 film and the popular board game, the stage show is adapted from the screenplay by Jonathan Lynn with additional material by Hunter Foster, Sandy Rustin and Eric Price.
“Clue: High School Edition” is a murder-mystery comedy thriller that follows six guests at a mysterious dinner party where they find themselves implicated as murder suspects when their host turns up dead. Wadsworth, the butler, leads Mrs. Peacock, Mr. Green, Colonel Mustard, Miss Scarlett, Mrs. White and Professor Plum as they attempt to find the killer, while the body count builds.
Senior Rosalie Cranmer, a member of Lenape High School’s Drama Club and French Club, is portraying the role of Mrs. Peacock, a woman quick to hysteria. She’s loud and fun, something Cranmer loves. Cranmer has been doing theater since she was 10 years old and dancing since she was three. She’s performed in most of the school’s shows and for her to be able to portray somebody else really puts her mind at ease. She’s also a very anxious person so she loves that she feels calmer when she’s on stage. Cranmer’s dad travels a lot for work, but he’ll be in the audience to see her take on her biggest role yet, something she’s excited for.
Senior Breanna Carpino, co-president of the Drama Club, likes to make the club open and fun for anyone. She encourages other students to attend club meetings, bring their friends and enjoy acting games. Ever since she was little, she’s always been energetic and bubbly, and she feels that theater is the only place that she can truly be herself. She’s found almost all her closest friends through theater, and she feels comfortable in that environment. Carpino is playing the role of the maid, Yvette, and she feels that it fits her because she loves a challenge. This is her first female role that she’s been given at Lenape and she loves it. She views every character that she’s ever played as a child of hers, one she wants to take care of and treat well. Yvette is quick with it and very sassy, Carpino said, but she’s also loyal and a good person, so that’s exactly how Carpino is going to portray her.
“People always talk about a runner’s high, but I really feel that there’s an actor’s high,” she said. “In the beginning of the show you’re so nervous, but as soon as I get on stage I’m smiling, I’m acting, I calm down and I’m myself, and you’re in this state of you know where you are and you’re present, but you’re doing what you love and you’re just so satisfied and happy.”
Junior Matt Hermack, a member of the Drama Club and the vice president of the school’s Italian Club, loves musicals the most and started performing in shows when he was in the fifth grade. Theater is where his true personality shines, and he loves to sing on stage and make people smile. Hermack plays the role of Mr. Green, an anxious character who he connects with in that sense. When he and his castmates are going over their lines during rehearsals some of the funny ones lose their luster because the cast hears them so much, Hermack explained. However, something he always looks forward to is when he hears the audience laugh because it brings back that humor.
Senior Emma Margolis, co-president of the Drama Club and the class photographer, has been doing theater since she was eight-years-old. She’s always said that theater was her first friend, the first thing she ever felt inclined to do and the first place that she felt like she mattered somewhere. She loves to act because like Hermack, she loves to make people laugh. She’s portraying the role of Mrs. White, a very cold character but someone with a lot of depth. Mrs. White doesn’t reflect Margolis’ personality, so portraying someone completely different from her gives her an opportunity to think like Mrs. White and see what her story is.
“On paper it seems very simple to play her, but I think that there needs to be a lot of personality that you put into her,” Margolis said. “She’s not just monotone, she’s not just cold, so I think that’s really fun, getting to experience that challenge of looking at what her real human traits are.”
Senior Bilal Anwar, a member of the Drama Club, first got introduced to theater through Lenape High School. When he’s performing, he likes having that platform where he can express himself as loud as he wants. No experience can compare to the feeling of opening night, Anwar said, when he first steps out on stage and he looks out into the audience and sees the bright lights. For Anwar, he always compares it to being on a rollercoaster. The adrenaline he gets on the opening night is addicting, but one of his favorite things. Anwar portrays the role of the butler, Wadsworth, who is a very pragmatic character. He’s pragmatic, but at the same time there’s so much more to him, Anwar said. As the events of the play unfold, the audience will start to see him unravel.
“One thing I love about the community here is the people,” he said. “Everyone around us is so non-judgmental. You can come as you are. When you get on stage you get into a flow, and everyone is in that zone, and everyone has tunnel vision… I have been able to release my talents playing (Wadsworth), and I’ve been able to go fully at it and bring my all. In the past, I’ve played characters that are one-sided – characters who are very serious or very funny – and Wadsworth is the perfect balance of that.”
The Nov. 19th and 20th shows will start at 7 p.m. The Nov. 21st show will be held at 1 and 7 p.m. Tickets will be for sale at the door and online at https://lrhsd.schoolcashonline.com/Fee/Details/11215/236/False/True. A Golden Age Pass will be honored on Nov. 21st for the 1 p.m. performance only.
Margolis and Cranmer rehearse a scene together.
Lenape High School seniors Emma Margolis (left to right) and Rosalie Cranmer, and junior Matthew Hermack are stars in the school’s fall drama “Clue: High School Edition.”
Hermack rehearses a scene.
