The Atchison County Drama Club at ACCJSHS, Effingham, announces the performances of its spring one act plays, “The Unexpected Reformation of Jimmy Valentine,” written by O. Henry and adapted by Thomas Hischak, and “The Mysterious Case of the Mysterious Case,” written by Paul Meloon. Both plays are produced by special arrangement with Pioneer Drama Service, Denver, Co. Performances are Thursday, April 10 at 7:00 p.m., and Sunday, April 13 at 2:00 p.m., in the ACCJSHS auditorium, Effingham. 

As “The Unexpected Reformation…” begins, Cora (Avery Handke) admits to stealing a bracelet from a classmate. Since her confession lacks remorse, her teacher Mrs. Proctor (Carmen LaHue) shares the story of the safecracker Jimmy Valentine (Evan Sinclair). Released from prison at the turn of the twentieth century, it doesn’t take long for Jimmy to fall back into his old bank robbing habits. Detective Ben Price (Nathan Palmer) criss-crosses the country, trying to catch Jimmy in the act and send him back to prison.  When his travels lead him to a vulnerable bank safe in the town of Elmore, the bank manager’s beautiful daughter Annabel (Cora-Bella Tull) inspires Jimmy to turn over a new leaf and become an honest businessman.  His new life goes along well until the day Annabel’s niece Agatha (Kai Phillips) gets trapped inside the brand new bank safe.  Come find out if Jimmy will stick to his new upright life, or expose his scandalous past in order to save the girl. Other cast members include Ethan Brooks, Trinity Brooks, Ashleigh Trichel.  This play will also be performed at the Regional Speech & Drama Festival competition on Saturday, April 12, at ACCJSHS, representing the Talking Tigers Forensics team.

“The Mysterious Case of the Mysterious Case” is a fast-talking film-noir spoof of “The Maltese Falcon,” and is filled with “Dadd jokes” galore.  When a mysterious case goes missing from the bus station, Dinah Mite (Avery Handke) hires Detective Hugo Dadd (Nathan Palmer) to find the missing case. Dadd and DEA (Dadd’s Efficient Assistant) May O’Naise (Carmen LaHue), take on the case to find the case, encountering a couple of Dinah’s past associates, Robin Banks (Ethan Brooks) and Rex Carrs (Evan Sinclair), who are also looking for the case. Adding to the confusion are the cops Ben Ding (Kai Phillips) and Stan Ding (Ashleigh Trischel), the bus station lost & found manager (Cora-Bella Tull), and a color-blind traveler (Trinity Brooks). Before the mysterious case can be recovered with the help of clever wordplay and groan-worthy one-liners, everyone realizes there’s more to this mysterious case than meets the eye.  

The tech crew for the one-acts includes Rebekah Caplinger, and Addison Wilbourn. The plays are directed by Noelle Walters. 

There will be a dessert bar at intermission of each performance. For further information, check the USD 377 website (usd377.org) or contact Noelle Walters (walters.noelle@usd377.org).