The audience starts filling in. The lights dim. Seniors Addison Weissert & Jacob Olesky walk out onto the stage, spotlight shining, and deliver the opening speech to emphasize their gratitude to the audience. “Without further ado, we present, The Cards Dealt.”
It opens with two officers, played by Jacob Heithoff ’24 and Matthew Thompson ’24, looking through old cases when they suddenly come across the case of a striving actress named Claire Williams. For the next hour, the crowd was sent on a wild adventure of twists and turns, massive reveals, manipulation, friendships, betrayals, and, a touch of Roger. The evening was filled with laughter, crying, shock, and drama that left people on the edge of their seats as we learned more and more about who these people truly are and who is playing the cards. Such a thrilling story written by Senior Jacob Olesky.
Jacob started writing The Cards Dealt his junior year after getting this idea and going “Oh, that actually be really interesting.” He would then go on and spend his summer between junior and senior year writing the show, and by the middle of first semester of his senior year, the show would be finished. After finding out that The Cards Dealt would be this year’s student-directed play, he decided to invite Addison to codirect with him. “Addy was also in the process of writing her own show and, I decided that if she wanted to still get the chance to direct, she could join in and help out with the entire show,” said Jacob. “It was really really generous of him, and really really kind, and I’ve just had the most amazing time,” responded Addison. Despite being on a difficult time crunch of exactly one month before opening night, with rehearsals typically being around 3 months, “condensing all of that into a month was really really difficult,” as stated by Addison, but they made it work with such a killer performance.
Claire and her roommate and best friend Willow played by V Filby ’25 and Julie Ryan ’26 respectively, get put in a “safe house” after Claire accidentally witnesses a murder at Neil’s bar after the owner Neil, played by Gavin Almuti ’25, asks Claire to take out some trash for him. They are accompanied by Officer Xander and mayor candidate Roger, played by Jaren Frederick ’25 and Ramsey May ’25 respectively. “Roger kind of tries to lift the mood and keep things happy” as described by Addison. About three months of being trapped in the “safehouse,” the masked murderer and mastermind known as The Jack of Blood tries to kill Claire and Xander just when they think he has moved on. After Xander takes the bullet for Claire, The Jack of Blood takes Xander’s gun and aims it directly at Claire. Hands shaking, the mask comes off, the hood comes down, and The Jack of Blood’s true identity is revealed. Or so we thought. You see, cards were dealt. The true mastermind wasn’t someone outside the group, but someone within. He had manipulated a friend into going in and eliminating Claire and Xander but failed and ended up getting shot by Roger instead. After the dust had settled, Xander ended up in a hospital and died while Claire ended up in a mental hospital. At the end of it all the true mastermind was revealed. His motive for all this? “Because it was funny!” replied The Jack of Blood as he snaped Claire’s neck in front of the audience and laughed menacingly towards them as the lights dimmed.
What’s next? Bows of course! As for the directors, “I would be interested in dipping my toes into the directing pool again because, doing it this time around has been very interesting, and something I’ve never done before, and I would like to try it again,” shared director Jacob Olesky. “This experience has made me realize that I not only want to act and perform in films and on thesis stage, but also just like, I would love to direct. It’s like been a really great experience, and I would love to come back,” shared director Addison Weissert. With that thrilling adventure done, the theater department has another bloody adventure and a deep dive planned for next year, but will they be able to outperform The Cards Dealt? Join us as we embark on a new quest!
Watch The Cards Dealt here
