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A Lighter Shade of Noir

A Lighter Shade of Noir

by Patrick Derksen

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.

A fabulously funny and high styling take on film noir - it’s a lighter shade of noir after all!

Comedy

Average Producer Rating:

Recommended for High Schools and Middle Schools

Running Time
About 75 minutes
Approximate; excludes intermissions and scene changes
Cast
25 Characters
4 M5 F16 Any Gender
Set
Simple set
Length
62 pages
Free Excerpt

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Performance Royalty Fees

Royalty fees apply to all performances whether or not admission is charged. Any performance in front of an audience (e.g. an invited dress rehearsal) is considered a performance for royalty purposes.

Exemption details for scenes and monologues for competition.

25 Characters
4 M, 5 F, 16 Any Gender
TRENT TROWEL [M] 136 lines
A tough, but somewhat incompetent, hard-boiled P.I.
TRACY DYCK [F] 64 lines
A no-nonsense police detective who loathes private inspectors
SHIRLEY HOLMES [F] 96 lines
A confident and intelligent British detective
JEAN-LOUIS-PHILIPPE EUSTACHE [A] 77 lines
A refined inspector from France
MS. BEATRICE [A] 61 lines
An elderly lady who knows it all
DR. WATSON [M] 55 lines
Holmes’ long-suffering assistant
MISS FLANNIGAN [F] 31 lines
Trowel’s long-suffering secretary
MONSIEUR SILENCIEUX [A] 0 lines
Eustache’s long-suffering butler
JANE [A] 34 lines
Ms. Beatrice’s long-suffering niece
SERGEANT MALONEY [A] 23 lines
Dyck’s long-suffering subordinate
BIG BILL [M] 12 lines
A shadowy crime boss
TONY [A] 7 lines
A tight lipped-henchman who gives away more than he thinks
VINNY [A] 7 lines
Big Bill’s henchmen
CANDY [A] 6 lines
A good-for-nothing floozy
MARIO [A] 7 lines
Another criminal thug
MAUREEN ARTEE [F] 18 lines
A cunning villain
LE CAMBRIOLEUR [A] 7 lines
An infamous cat burglar
ETHEL [A] 5 lines
Ms. Beatrice’s good-for-nothing neighbor
MR. SMITH [M] 38 lines
A hapless postman
CLARICE LATRICHE [F] 48 lines
A femme-fatale with mysterious motives
MAYOR DEFEHR [A] 48 lines
A boisterous and personable politician
MRS. BENEDICT [A] 30 lines
A wealthy socialite and hotel owner
BEVERLY STEWART [A] 6 lines
A very famous singer
JANITOR 1 [A] 12 lines
A grumpy hotel-worker
JANITOR 2 [A] 12 lines
A jaded hotel-worker

Praise for A Lighter Shade of Noir

Philippe McMurdo
Oxford Area School - Te Kura o te Poho Rakahua
We absolutely loved it as a school and as a community. The students worked super hard on developing their characters and the feedback from everyone who saw it was incredible.
Cheryl Robinson
Strack Intermediate
Our production of A Lighter Shade of Noir was a great success! Our audience raved about the show, both how fun the story was and how great our student actors portrayed their parts. This play got one of the best responses of my 6 years here at Strack Intermediate. Thank you so much Theatrefolk for having such great scripts available for our middle school community.
Jessica Davis
Ronan High School
It is funny and fast-paced. There were jokes in it for the adults and jokes for younger kids and the whole audience was laughing.

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