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Nothing but Noir: A Lighter Shade of Noir

Everything is definitely not what it seems in A Lighter Shade of Noir by Patrick Derksen – a fabulously funny and high styling take on film noir.

Trent Trowel is your typical gumshoe. Searching the mean streets for crimes to solve and dames to fall for. He joins some of the world’s most famous detectives at the International PD gala. There’s Shirley Holmes, Jean Louie Phillip Eustache… and Aunt Beatrice.

But is this just an innocent gala? Will the world’s most dastardly villains foil them with a fiendish master plan? Will Aunt Beatrice ever get an English muffin? Everything is not what it seems.

Theatre teacher, Dana Davis , from Prairie Trail Middle School in Olathe, KS directed this performance of A Lighter Shade of Noir, and the talented student performers mastered the challenge of this comedic genre:

We are a middle school in Olathe, KS. It was lots of fun. I even had a photographer take “noir-style” headshots of the kids to add to the mood.

Middle school students perform A Lighter Shade of Noir on stage in noir-style costumes including fedoras, a trench coat, and a polka-dot dress, with an Egyptian pharaoh mask visible in the background

Middle school student in a black bowler hat, trench coat, and tie posed against a wall in a noir-style black-and-white portrait

Two student actors perform a comedic scene from A Lighter Shade of Noir, one wearing a flower crown and holding a cane beside a table with a plate

Three middle school students perform a scene from A Lighter Shade of Noir on stage, with two standing near a desk and one looking on

Middle school student in a red dress and hat receives bouquets from four boys in vintage suits and fedoras during a performance of A Lighter Shade of Noir

Four middle school students perform A Lighter Shade of Noir on stage, two standing and two seated at a small round cafe table in period noir costumes

Three student actors perform A Lighter Shade of Noir on stage, with a secretary at a desk labeled The Office of Trent Trowel, a woman in a red gown, and a young man in a white shirt and tie

Middle school students perform A Lighter Shade of Noir on stage, with a prop desk labeled The Office of Trent Trowel in the foreground

Two young male students in fedoras and retro suits perform in a middle school production of A Lighter Shade of Noir

Three middle school students in noir-style costumes including hats, suspenders, and a fake mustache perform a scene from A Lighter Shade of Noir on stage

Student actress in costume as a noir-era secretary seated at a desk with a typewriter, performing in A Lighter Shade of Noir

Two middle school students perform A Lighter Shade of Noir on stage, one wearing a fake mustache and newsboy cap gesturing dramatically to the other in a black suit

Student actress in a black gown, long gloves, and white flower hair accessory smiles onstage during a middle school production of A Lighter Shade of Noir

Get your copy of A Lighter Shade of Noir - right here, right now!

Looking good, Prairie Trail Middle School!

Photo credit: Micah Marie Photography

Products Referenced

A Lighter Shade of Noir

by Patrick Derksen Canadian Author

A fabulously funny and high styling take on film noir.

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Nothing but Noir: A Lighter Shade of Noir

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A Lighter Shade of Noir

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