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OPEN AUDITIONS
An Old-Fashioned Family Murder
By Joe DiPietro
Directed by Ken Clark
Performance Dates: August 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16
AUDITIONS are June 8 & 9
Callback, by invitation, June 10
Audition Signup: Schedule Your Audition
ABOUT THE SHOW
On a dark and stormy night, a once-grand estate becomes the setting for murder—and mayhem—in An Old-Fashioned Family Murder, a razor-sharp comic mystery by Tony® Award winner Joe DiPietro. At the mansion of elderly Colonel Claythorne, pompous murder-mystery author Arthur Whittington is meeting the Colonel’s family to discuss a shocking change to the Colonel’s will: one daughter will be disinherited… though no one knows which one. Present are Claythorne’s cold, glamorous eldest daughter Clarice; his youngest daughter Dotty, an enthusiastic admirer of Whittington’s work; Clarice’s smooth-talking (and not-too-bright) fiancé Jasper; and Mrs. Shirley Peck, an unassuming widow whose keen powers of observation may be sharper than anyone realizes.
When a murder occurs, suspicions explode and secrets unravel. By the time Mrs. Peck’s son—junior detective Paul Peck—arrives to investigate, everyone has a motive, everyone has something to hide, and nothing is quite what it seems. With backstabbing, romantic entanglements, and plenty of well-intentioned “mother-knows-best” advice muddying the investigation, the night spirals into a deliciously twisted whodunit.
Witty, fast-paced, and full of theatrical surprises, An Old-Fashioned Family Murder celebrates classic mystery tropes with DiPietro’s trademark humor, warmth, and clever storytelling. Featuring a small ensemble of bold, comic characters and rich opportunities for timing, transformation, and surprise, this comedic mystery offers actors the chance to play deliciously deceptive roles in a smart, audience-pleasing night of theatre.
AUDITION INFORMATION
Rehearsal/Schedule: Rehearsals are at Act Two’s scene shop and/or theatre in St. Peters. This show utilizes a six-week rehearsal format followed by tech week beginning on August 1. The all-cast Read-Through will be held on Thursday, June 11 (evening). Set Build Saturdays are July 18 & 25. The show runs for 8 performances over two consecutive weeks on August 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16 with a brush-up rehearsal on Wednesday evening, April 12. Rehearsals through July 16 will be on Sundays from 3:00pm-6:00pm, and Monday, Wednesday, Thursday from 6:30-9:30pm. Rehearsals from July 20 until tech are Monday through Thursday from 6:00pm-9:00pm.
Conflicts will not necessarily eliminate you from being cast. However, excessive additional conflicts after being cast may result in a role being recast. Please do not audition if you are not available for all rehearsals during tech week and all performances.
What to Prepare: Complete the Audition Form in advance (Download) and bring it with you to your audition. The form should include your acting resume, (or attach your resume), of your onstage experience and a list of all potential conflicts for all days during the rehearsal window. (If you do not have access to a printer, copies will be available at auditions. Please arrive early to complete). The audition will consist of individual monologues based on the character(s) for which you wish to be considered. (See below) In addition, cold readings may be done using the script. Printed copies will be available at auditions.
If you need specific accommodations to audition, or you have a show-specific question, please contact the director Ken Clark (OFFM.ActTwo@gmail.com), using the subject line “Audition.”
Audition Signup: Schedule Your Audition
CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS
Age ranges are flexible and fluid and represent stage ages only.
Mrs. Shirley Peck (Lead, female, over 50): Dotty Claythorne’s friend from a murder-mystery book club. She is sweet, unassuming and relentlessly underestimated.
Detective Paul Peck (Lead, male, thirties or forties): Shirley’s devoted son. An earnest yet rather unsuccessful detective.
Arthur Whittington (Supporting, male, middle-aged): A world-renowned writer of murder mysteries. Also a pompous snob struggling for his next bestseller. He speaks with a very affected English accent, though he’s probably from Missouri.
Clarice Claythorne (Supporting, female, twenties or early thirties): Colonel Claythorne’s daughter. Dazzling, glamorous, sharp-witted and sly. A film noir-style femme fatale.
Dotty Claythorne (Supporting, female, twenties or early thirties): The Colonel’s other daughter and an ardent fan of Whittington’s novels. Modest, soft-spoken and excited only by murder mysteries. Though young, she dresses like a Victorian widow.
Jasper (Supporting, male, twenties or early thirties): Clarice’s fiancé and former pool boy. Handsome and dim.
CHARACTER AUDITION MONOLOGUES
Mrs. Shirley Peck
People do make such quick decisions, don’t they? They hear a gentle voice, see a pleasant smile, and think, “Well, there’s someone who couldn’t possibly know very much.” I’ve been underestimated in parlors, on trains, at church socials, and in my own kitchen. It used to trouble me. Then my husband explained what a gift it was. You learn far more when no one bothers to guard themselves around you. Secrets grow terribly careless when they think no one important is listening.
My Reginald understood that better than anyone. He’d say a criminal usually reveals himself long before the handcuffs appear. A twitch in the hand, a glance toward the door, a story polished just a little too brightly. And tonight, this house is full of polished stories. Such tidy explanations. Such rehearsed innocence. But fear has a scent all its own, and it’s stronger in this room than the storm outside.
I did try to warn him, you know. I said, “I know something bad’s going to happen in this house.” But some men would rather mock a woman than heed her. Even when I begged him, “Please don’t drink anymore of…” he swallowed every drop simply because I asked him not to. Pride can be more poisonous than anything poured into a glass.
Now then, someone here is trembling—not from thunder, not from the sight of a corpse, and not from the thought of prison. No, they’re trembling because they know the smallest detail can ruin them. And the smallest details are my specialty. So do sit down, dear. You’ve been standing in the truth all evening.
Detective Paul Peck
I know what people see when I walk into a room. They see the son of Reginald Peck and wonder why I’m not taller, sharper, faster, grander. They expect brilliance to be inherited like eye color or a silver watch. But investigations don’t care who your father was. A dead man doesn’t rise because your surname carries weight. A case is a case, and this one belongs to me.
When I entered this house, I smelled the poison before I saw the body. I touched the wrist, checked the pulse, and knew there was nothing to be done. So I said what had to be said: “This man has been poisoned.” Since then I’ve heard lies dressed as confusion, outrage disguised as innocence, and indignation from people who ought to be frightened. Strange, isn’t it, how quickly suspects become offended when asked simple questions?
They all insist you barely knew him. Yet every one had an opinion. Every one of had a grievance. Every one found some reason to hate him before the hour was done. That matters. So hear me clearly now: “No more lies.” Roads are flooded. The phone is dead. No one leaves this house until I know who turned a parlor insult into a killing. You may compare me to my father if you like. But tonight, I don’t need to be him. I only need to be right.
Arthur Whittington
“Ladies and gentlemen—there’s been a murder.” Ah! Even now, it sings. There is no finer phrase in the English language. It contains terror, delight, and scandal all at once. A corpse on page one and the reader forfeits sleep willingly. That is power. That is art. And I, Arthur Whittington, have wielded it magnificently.
Yes, yes, the critics have barked. Sales have wobbled. Every mediocrity in spectacles has declared my latest efforts “uneven.” But genius does not vanish because reviewers grow dull. It merely waits. It sharpens itself in private. It observes. And tonight I have been handed a banquet of possibility. Rival sisters circling an inheritance. A handsome fool with matrimonial ambitions. A hidden patriarch upstairs. A storm that traps everyone inside. Really, if I wrote this too boldly, no one would believe it.
And then there is insult—such a marvelous accelerant. I prod one vanity, expose one lie, question one romance, and watch tempers bloom like roses in June. Why invent motives when people carry them in their pockets? Why fabricate malice when it sits before you asking for another drink?
So now, at last, I begin again. Chapter One. Ladies and Gentlemen, there’s been a murder.” Though perhaps I should improve that. On a turbulent night, a brilliant and dashing novelist…” Yes. Much better. Posterity does appreciate accuracy.
Clarice Claythorne
There ought to be a special punishment for men who mistake arrogance for charm. They enter a room certain the air belongs to them, speak twice as loudly as necessary, and expect applause for every insult. Arthur Whittington was precisely that sort of man. He fancied himself an observer of human nature, when in truth he was merely a bully with a vocabulary. There is a difference, though too few men ever learn it.
I have spent years smiling at men like that. Nodding politely while they explain my own family, my own fortune, my own intentions back to me as though I were too shallow to understand them myself. It is astonishing what people will reveal when they assume beauty and intelligence cannot coexist. They speak freely. They boast. They underestimate. I encourage it whenever useful.
But let us be honest about tonight. This house was already dangerous long before the body on the sofa. A changed will, old resentments, money waiting to change hands, and a father who enjoys keeping power by keeping everyone uncertain. Then in strolls a writer determined to strike every match he can find. If he was surprised by the blaze, he was the only one.
Still, do not mistake me for a woman in distress. “I do not tremble.” If you intend to accuse me, Detective, come armed with something stronger than suspicion. I have endured gossip, vanity, and family politics all my life. You’ll have to be far more clever than Arthur Whittington to unsettle me.
Dotty Claythorne
People are always so kind when they mean to dismiss you. They pat your hand, lower their voice, call you “dear,” and decide for you what sort of person you are. Poor Dotty. Quiet Dotty. Odd little Dotty with her murder novels. They think softness means emptiness. They think if a person blushes easily, she must not think deeply.
The truth is, mysteries make more sense to me than families ever have. In mysteries, motives are visible if one looks carefully enough. Love can become greed. Admiration can sour into humiliation. A smile can hide a knife. But clues are honest. They may be hidden, but they do not lie. Families do that quite enough on their own.
“Oh I do love a good murder story!” Not because of blood or horror, but because at the end, someone finally sees clearly. The ignored detail finally matters. The overlooked person matters. Order is restored by paying attention to what everyone else dismissed.
And if I seemed upset tonight, who wouldn’t be? I mean, to learn one may be cut off, forgotten, replaced—well, that stirs dreadful thoughts. But thoughts are not deeds. Fear is not guilt. Tears are not confession. Remember that, Detective. Sometimes the most obvious suspect is only the easiest one to blame.
Jasper
Now see here, I’ve just about had my fill of being discussed as though I’m not in the room. People take one look at a handsome face and decide there can’t possibly be a brain behind it. I’m decorative, apparently. A well-tailored lamp with excellent shoulders. It’s enough to make a fellow lose patience.
Yes, I work at the club. Yes, I look exceptional in a swimsuit. And yes, I intend to marry Clarice. Why does everyone say those facts in the same tone one uses for a scandal? A man may admire beauty and still possess depth. A man may enjoy comfort and still feel genuine affection. Though I’ll admit comfort is easier to maintain with proper financial planning.
That Whittington creature thought himself terribly clever exposing everyone else’s motives while parading his own vanity around in a smoking jacket. He poked and prodded until any decent person would want to throttle him, and I said as much. But so did everyone else. But there’s a big leap between wanting to hit a man and poisoning him.
Oh, and another thing… I am not a fool simply because I occasionally lose the right word. Language can be slippery. Character is what counts. Mine is sound. My temper, perhaps, less so. But if you mean to suspect me because I was angry, then you’ll need a larger jail. By midnight, half this house wanted him dead. I was merely honest enough to say it aloud.
AN OLD-FASHIONED FAMILY MURDER is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection.
AUDITION DATES for our Future 2026 Season Shows
Grease: August 31 & September 1
Theatre Location for Auditions
St. Peters Cultural Arts Centre
One St. Peters Centre Blvd.
St. Peters, MO 63376
The Performing Arts Theatre is in the City Hall building, Western(far right) most building at the opposite end from the Rec-Plex.
About Act Two Theatre:
2026 marks Act Two Theatre’s 33rd Anniversary Season. We are proud to present another year of high-quality theatre in St. Peters, Missouri. We are located in the beautiful 334-seat Performing Arts Theater at the St. Peters City Hall Cultural Arts Centre, adjacent to the Rec-Plex. The theater has comfortable seating and a terrific stage
Act Two Theatre performs to one of the largest season ticket subscriber audiences in the entire St. Louis area. Act Two’s loyal, large and enthusiastic season ticket subscriber base allows many to share in the joy and magic of live theatre that our talented actors, directors, tech crew and volunteers create.
