Shear Madness Play Script Upd -

(After audience suggestions and clues revealed, CHARLIE and the gang find the murder weapon—a scissor.)

CHARLIE: It was hidden in the display case. Now, who do you think did it?

(The audience votes on who they think the killer is. Let's assume the killer is revealed to be PETE.)

PETE: (confessing) I did it! I was in deep financial trouble, and Lily was going to expose my scheme.

CHARLIE: (singing) The mystery solved, the killer found, Thanks to you, our audience, all around, For helping us piece together the crime, In this shear madness, you've been prime!

Subject: Script Flexibility, Update Mechanisms, and Local Adaptation in Shear Madness Play Type: Interactive Whodunit Creators: Paul Portner (Original Concept), Marilyn Abrams, and Bruce Jordan

(Lights up. SAM is sweeping hair. TAYLOR is practicing scissors on a mannequin head.)

SAM: No, no, no. You don't chop, Taylor. You suggest the hair to move. It’s a conversation.

TAYLOR: My mannequin isn’t talking back. That’s an improvement over my last boyfriend.

(Roxanne bursts in, dripping with jewelry and attitude.) shear madness play script upd

ROXANNE: Sam! Thank god. I have a situation. My usual colorist quit. Said I was “emotionally exhausting.” Can you believe the nerve?

SAM: He had a point. But I love you. What’s the damage?

ROXANNE: My roots are a crime scene. Also, my husband, Barry, is missing.

TAYLOR: Missing as in… forgot his keys, or missing as in Dateline?

ROXANNE: Missing as in I found his phone in the garbage disposal. And a note that just said: “I know.”

SAM: “I know” what?

ROXANNE: (sliding into the chair) That’s the terrifying part. I don’t know what he knows. So I need a distraction. Make me blonde again. Blonde people don’t go to prison.

TAYLOR: (whispering to Sam) I love her.

SAM: (mixing bleach) Fine. But you’re paying for the premium detox conditioner. Your hair screams “midlife crisis.” (After audience suggestions and clues revealed, CHARLIE and

(They begin the dye job. Taylor wraps Roxanne in a cape. Suddenly, the lights flicker.)

ROXANNE: What was that?

SAM: Old wiring. Or Barry crawling through the vents.

TAYLOR: (laughs nervously) That’s a joke, right?

(A loud CRASH from the back room. All freeze.)

SAM: Stay here.

(Sam exits toward the back. Pause. A single SCREAM offstage. Then silence.)

TAYLOR: (to Roxanne) Sam has a very dramatic sense of humor.

(Detective Moss enters from the front, not the back. Calm, holding a notepad.) (The police arrive and begin questioning

MOSS: Evening. I’m Detective Moss. Which one of you is the owner?

TAYLOR: Sam. Just went… back there.

MOSS: (writing) Ah. Well, I’m afraid I have some bad news. We found a body behind the dumpster. Male. Wallet says “Barry.”

ROXANNE: (still under foil) Is he dead?

MOSS: Very.

ROXANNE: (beat) Can I still get my blow-dry? I have a dinner thing.

MOSS: Ma’am, your husband is deceased.

ROXANNE: Yes, and my hair is violet. He would have hated it.

(The police arrive and begin questioning. CHARLIE suggests they recreate the events leading up to the murder to figure out who did it.)

CHARLIE: We have to remember exactly what happened. Let's go back to when Lily first walked in.