ROCHELLE — The Vince Carney Community Theatre’s upcoming show, “Dyin’ for a Drink” will be on stage at the Lincoln Arts Center on Friday, Nov. 8 & 15, Saturday, Nov. 9 & 16, and Sunday, Nov. 10. Tickets can be purchased online for $20 at http://www.vcctrochelle.org/ 

“Dyin’ for a Drink" is an original production written and directed by Jeani Camplain and Beth Hahn of VCCT. The show is a murder mystery that takes place in a bar called the Rusty Keg. The second half of the show will be based on what the audience decides. 

“What viewers can expect at this show depends on them,” Hahn said. “They get to decide who the murderer is. It could be a different murderer each night. Whatever they say, that's how we have to act it out. We have to be ready for anything. It's a scripted show, but it's also improv. It's fun for us to play with the audience and interact with them. We get a lot of energy from the audience and each other.”

“Dyin’ for a Drink" was originally created and performed by VCCT 19 years ago. Three of its actors are reprising their original roles: Hahn, Terry Dickow and Terry Camplain.

The show boasts a cast of seven. Hahn reprises her role as the Rusty Keg’s bar floozie. Steve Frank will play the bar’s owner. Paula Campbell will play the bartender. Dickow reprises his role as the bar drunk. Curt Helgren will play the role of detective. Kimberly Ekes will play the visiting nurse. Terry Camplain is reprising his role as a convict that comes off a chain gang. 

“It's discovered a murder happened and there's an undercover detective and witnesses,” Jeani Camplain said. “They help recreate the scene of the crime and find out who the murderer is. We had a great time with it. The VCCT board approached us to do it again and were happy to.”

Jeani Campbell said while she and Hahn wrote the show, it’s left up for interpretation for the actors if they think of something they want to improvise. Ekes called that aspect “terrifying but really fun” and said it will be the first time she’s involved with a show like it in her long theater career. The original show will be VCCT’s first of that kind in some time. 

“We've done several original shows, but it's been a while since the last one,” Dickow said. “There's a sense of freedom doing them. You're not constrained and you kind of just go with the flow. It's been a lot of fun.”

Terry Camplain said performing an original production takes the burden of paying royalties for the show off the VCCT organization, as “Dyin’ for a Drink” belongs to Hahn and Jeani Camplain. 

The Camplains and the cast are most looking forward to the interaction with the audience the show provides. 

“It's always the feedback they give us,” Terry Camplain said. “When they're having fun, we have more fun. When they start having fun we really get energized.”

“You put in all this time and energy and you almost get to the point where you're like, 'Those jokes are old. I've heard them,'” Jeani Camplain said. “And then you hear the audience hear them and react. That makes it worth it.”