3

Lisa and Bill Collins are ‘Dead to the Last Drop’

Wine-tasting, murder and merriment are featured in this year’s “Christmas Show” at the Riverfront Playhouse. There is murder afoot at the Davino Brothers’ Vineyard, but the wacky characters don’t let that interfere with wine-tasting, grape-stomping, and celebrating the holidays. The audience has a chance to solve the mystery and win prizes, or just sit back and enjoy the show. Writers Lisa and Bill Collins talks about producing shows, the cast and how they’re not that much different than the Davino’s.

dead-to-the-last-drop-1

This show looks like a lot of fun. I need to know who inspired the Davino brothers.

The Davino brothers were inspired by the many family-owned wineries in Napa and Sonoma, many of which are even named after the brothers (think Ernest and Julio Gallo, Wente Brothers). Our Davino brothers also were influenced by Don Novello‘s Saturday Night Live character “Father Guido Sarducci.” They were fleshed out by our own personal memories of little old Italian men shuffling around Washington Square in San Francisco – feeding the pigeons and sharing their salt-of-the-earth philosophies with any who cared to take a moment to listen. In this production, the Davino brothers are wonderfully portrayed by Jorge Arguello as Vito and Wade Riggs as Gino and Dino Davino (you’ll have to come see the play to see how he accomplishes that!).

Tell us about the rest of the cast.

The rest of the cast is made up of colorful guests and staff attending the holiday celebration at the Davino’s Vineyard, which is called “Sangue Scuro” (Italian for “Dark Blood.”) One such guest is Corky Tannin (played by Dan Kupsky), a Texas multimillionaire who has made his fortune selling corks. He resembles a human ‘Foghorn Leghorn” and is in attendance with his new girlfriend, the blonde and incredibly naive Anny Greensprings (played by Savannah Harter). You will also meet Madonna Pescacelli Pepperoni Calzone (played by Victoria Graham), the daughter of the notorious Don Calzone. She is a nightclub singer, and good girl who is going bad. The winery’s staff is made up of sommelier Andre Bordeaux (played by Ian Dalziel) whose Parisian sensibilities do not blend all that well with the earthy Davinos, or the blustering Texan. However, he does seem to have a fondness for Vito’s daughter Angelina (who is played by a secret mystery guest, as is Godfather Calzone.) Julio Shallow (played by Bill Ruess) is the unassuming piano player who is mysteriously bound to the winery and service to the Davino Brothers.

I suppose the Davino’s aren’t crazier than any other family. How are your family holidays?

Well, hopefully we won’t have any murders occur at our family functions, but getting together with those we love and enjoying good music and good wine is definitely as important to us as it is to the Davinos! Come to think of it, we did dispose of a body at midnight a couple of Christmases ago – but that’s all we can say about that.

dead-to-the-last-drop-2

My first Collins production was your entry in the 2009 Sundial Film Festival. Do you prefer theater or film?

That’s a toughie! We find film production to be very exciting and it opens up so many possibilities that are prohibitive on stage. Additionally, once you make a film, you can enjoy it over and over again – and you never age onscreen! However, if we have to choose, it’s live theater, hands down – there really is nothing like the rush you get when you have an audience engaged. Spontaneous laughter at a well-timed comedic ‘bit’ or ad-lib, or tears at a carefully honed monologue is the ultimate reward that makes it worth all the energy we pour into it.

Or musicals? You’re active with Westside Performing Arts too.

Well, all the plays we have written are musicals – so there’s your answer! We love singing and performing with Westside Performing Arts – Trish Spinner always has very high expectations for her shows and sees to it that everyone brings their ‘A’ game. To achieve this involves a ton of rehearsals, so our schedules don’t allow us to ‘play’ with WPAC as much as we like, but it’s a terrific company.

Writing or acting?

Another tough choice, but it has to be acting. Our writing is probably a reflection and culmination of all the great moments we’ve experienced on stage. We both love to entertain an audience, and we have learned so many fun ways to accomplish that. We don’t pretend to be ‘Shakespeare’ – what we do is put together fun and entertaining shows. There are many actors that find the audience to be inconsequential in their pursuit of their craft. We are motivated on the opposite side of the spectrum – for us, it’s all about the audience – their energy is the fuel that makes our shows successful.

How did you start writing murder mysteries?

Well, speaking of rehearsing and limited time . . . shortly after we were married in 1993, two of our actor friends (Buzz Halsing and Steve Wilner) called us and suggested we write and perform a murder mystery play together. Steve had been involved with a company in the East Bay that performed regularly at several restaurants in the area. They were fun for the actors, didn’t require much rehearsal, and you actually got paid to do it. Buzz and Steve are fabulous singers, so it didn’t take long for us to decide that ours would be a musical murder mystery. We had a blast meeting and brainstorming the plot, the characters, the songs, the clues, the comedic bits, etc. When it came to writing dialogue, we sat down at the computer and the characters just took over. That’s how it works to this day – once the play is clearly mapped out from all angles, the characters just start talking and we write down what they say.

Our first show was well received, but our two friends decided that the time and energy necessary to produce the shows was more than they could afford, what with families and day jobs, and kindly offered to let us take the ball and run with it. It is helpful that we live together, as it allows us to take care of a lot of decisions and coordination without having to take the time to meet or call. Since then we have written and produced over 25 different murder mystery scripts and performed them in dozens of different locations for a wide variety of audiences. We migrated from the demanding but not particularly profitable public performances to only doing private events. These are especially fun for us too, because we are able to take information about the particular group and incorporate it into the dialogue of the play – or even write songs about them. It’s so cool to know you’ve got a great joke coming up about them, and then see their delighted reactions when they realize they have been worked into the play!

dead-to-the-last-drop-3

So, Dead to the Last Drop audience members can play along and solve the mystery? How does that work?

The show is first and foremost a musical comedy. We have found that some people love to try to solve a mystery, while other people find it stressful (kind of like costumes – some people love to dress up, others hate it!). So, for those who just want to watch a show, we’ve got you covered. For those who DO want to solve the mystery, they will be given a solution sheet to fill out during intermission that will ask them who they think the murderer is, and what clues they observed that support their answer. They will be encouraged to look at physical clues on the stage, as well as interrogate the suspects who will be mingling among them during that time. The solutions that identify the murderer and identify the most correct clues will win the prize.

More importantly, what can we win?

Vintner’s cellar has very generously offered a $75 gift certificate to the winning team or individual for each of our 19 performances! Also, the 2nd, 3rd and 1st place winners will receive an autographed CD of the original cast recording of the music in the play. This may be a collector’s item some day, as our goal is to publish the play for national distribution early next year! There will also be CDs available for purchase at the play.

And wine tasting. How fun.

Yes, indeed! When we were getting set to start production on the play – which is set at a winery – Riverfront supporter, Bonnie Thompson, suggested that we get some local wineries to come do some tasting with the audience before the show starts. Each Friday and Saturday night performance will feature a different local winery or restaurant hosting a free wine tasting for any audience member that cares to participate (as long as they are over 21, of course.)

So, do News Cafe Readers get a clue? Just whisper it. We won’t tell anyone.

Well, let’s see . . . how about . . . watch out for red herrings. That may be more of a clue than you think, but I’ve said enough!

See ‘Dead to the Last Drop’ Nov. 21 to Dec. 19 at the Riverfront Playhouse, 1620 East Cypress Ave., Redding.  Tickets are available at Graphic Emporium, 1525 Pine Street, Redding, or by telephone at (530) 241-4278. Opening and closing Nights $20, regular performances & matinees $15.

Adam Mankoski is a recent North State transplant who feels completely at home here. He enjoys experiencing and writing about the people, places and things that embody the free spirit of the State of Jefferson. He and his partner own HawkMan Studios and are the creators of Redding’s 2nd Saturday ArtHop. Reach Adam at adamm.anewscafe@gmail.com.

Adam Mankoski

is a recent North State transplant who feels completely at home here. He enjoys experiencing and writing about the people, places and things that embody the free spirit of the State of Jefferson. He and his partner are the owners of HawkMan Studios and the creators of Redding’s 2nd Saturday Art Hop.

3 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments