Murder on Gilligan’s Island a Hit With Audiences!

Christopher Minori’s new play is a hit in Boquete, Panama as all 6 shows have been sold out. Word of mouth has been tremendous and the reviews are coming in!

Murder on Gilligan’s Island

Review by Mark Heyer, September 10, 2022

Last night a packed house witnessed the birth of a brand new BCP, their first night’s efforts rewarded with a raucous and sustained ovation from an enthusiastic and grateful audience. Live community theater lives again in Boquete.

Murder on Gilligan’s Island is a perfect vehicle for bringing our community back to community theater. Irreverent and innovative, written and directed by our brand new theatrical force of nature Christopher Minori, kicks off a lightning season of four plays over the next two months, masterminded by our brand new BCP Artistic Director, Gabrielle Reynolds.

With a scant two weeks of rehearsal time in a splendid brand new theater, thanks to the Rock Restaurant, we meet a brand new cast and crew, stranded on a desert island with no one to talk to but a theater full of people and cast members wandering in and out from other 70s television shows. So who done it?

Was it the captain, played by veteran Mike Hill, who, by the way, led the construction of the stage and set, and engineered lighting and curtain structures? Or maybe Gilligan, played by new talent Stevan Ball? How about Lenny and Sqiggy, two rowdy guys delightfully gender-bent by Jan Carrier and Genevieve Keenan? How about Ginger (Denise Daniels), Mary Ann (Celeste Mendelsohn), or the peripatetic professor (Larry Schmitz)? Or was it one of the several characters portrayed by the enthusiastic and multi-talented Denese Rodgers? Every one of them deserves kudos, and I can’t wait to see them spread their wings in this and future productions.

The surprise ending is unlike anything you have experienced in Boquete theater, or for that matter, any theater.

Covid reminds us that there is nothing like real honest-to-goodness live community theater – rubbing shoulders with our friends and neighbors and watching people we see every day getting up on stage and letting it all hang out. Then doing it yourself in ways you never imagined you could.

The energy of the new BCP is re-igniting the many talents and efforts of the old-timers and newcomers who make Boquete such a wonderful place to live. Join up and enjoy the time of your life working, creating, growing, and playing with and for your friends and neighbors, new and old. If not now, when?