Murderers in a Snug, Little Church

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Photo by Troy Freund of Troy Freund Photography

Murderers Cast - Boulevard Theatre

The leads of 'Murderers' left to right: Mohammad N. ElBsat, Joan End and Caitlin Kujawski

There’s a cozy, little space inside a church on the East Side where a few people are talking about the people that they’ve killed. The dark comedy makes its way to Plymouth Church courtesy of Boulevard Theatre. Playwright Geoffrey Hartcher’s Murderers is a trio of monologues set in Florida in recent memory. Director Mark Bucher presents three different actors in three different roles who find themselves placed into positions where committing murder is more comfortable than not doing so.

Hatcher is very deft and rendering characters who are quite relatable. There’s no lurid romanticization of the act of taking another person’s life. It’s simply a matter of presenting people forced into situations and letting chance and circumstance take their course. Of course, even this could come across as being grossly unappealing were enough for the fact that Bucher has done such a good job of working with the actors to develop personalities that seem so endearingly mundane.

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Photo by Troy Freund of Troy Freund Photography

Mohammad N. ElBsat - Boulevard Theatre

Mohammad N. ElBsat performs 'Murderers' with Boulevard Theatre

Mohammad N. ElBsat is crushingly vulnerable as a gentleman who, against all probability, finds it lucrative to marry the woman who is almost his mother-in-law, in the interest of gaining a fortune for the woman who is almost his wife. Joan End summons a great deal of beauty and charisma as a woman living in a retirement community who is forced to live with a certain knowledge that she would rather not have. Caitlin Kujawski Compton finishes the show with a monologue of a murder mystery lover who meets her match as she finds herself in the company of one of her favorite authors. It’s a nice a little evening of dark comedy.

Boulevard Theater’s staged reading of Murderers continues through June 19 at Plymouth Church, 2717 E. Hampshire St. for more information, visit boulevardtheatre.com. Admission is pay what you can.