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closeTeens solve mystery at the library
Improvisation activity gives young adults chance to act out creativity
Chris Albert
The young adult group at the Puyallup Public Library played up the who-dun-it mystery by using improvisation for a library murder court room drama.
“Murder at the library?” on April 24 brought about 20 teenagers together to act out a court room drama and solve the mystery of Boondock Public Librarian Ms. Always B. Wright untimely death.
“It was really a lot of fun,” said Caitlin Corbett, who played Gilda B. Good in the mystery. “We’ve done improve before but never to this scale.”
The activity is a program for youths 12-19 years old, providing an improvisation activity for teens during TV Turn Off Week.
The activity is a great way to put down the electronics and interact in a fun, active and safe environment, Corbett said.
The library is more than books, said Bonnie Svitarsky, young adult librarian for the Puyallup Public Library.
“We had a lot of teens that have expressed an interest in improv,” she said.
It was a first time event for the library.
“I’ve really been surprised by the response for this one,” Svitarsky said. “We’re seeing a lot of new faces for this one.”
Corbett said, there is a core group of participants in the young adult group, but it’s really enjoyable to see new faces.
“It’s always nice to get out and test your creativity,” Corbett said.
And creative was the word of the day for the young adults. They were each given a character to play, but what that character said was up to them.
The story follows the events that surrounded the death of Wright. She had fallen down the stairs to her death. Her death is clouded in mystery. The youths were charged with figuring out if Wright’s fall was an unfortunate accident or a murderous plot.
They were put in a courtroom setting to figure out the circumstances of Wright’s death. They played the roles of prosecutors, judges, witnesses and jurors.
The prosecutors asked questions of people who worked in the library — Good, the children’s librarian; Sam D. Sweeper, the Janitor; Hattie R. History, the reference librarian and Do Bee Handsome, Wright’s boyfriend.
They were each connected to Wright in some way and were all considered suspects in her possible murder. Good and Wright had a disagreement about some bookmarks Good ordered. The janitor had lent a cleaning clothe to Wright and was seen retrieving it from her office the day she died. History was a long-time friend of Wright who may have been jealous of a budding relationship the dead librarian had with Handsome. A note had also been found in Wright’s office from Handsome that said he wanted to get rid of History.
Good was perplexed by Wright’s dislike of the bookmarks.
“She couldn’t even look at them,” she said. “They’re such lovely bookmarks.”
That was enough for the jurors to decide Good had to be the culprit and they charged her with the murder of the long-time librarian.
“That was kind of a surprise,” Corbett said. “I didn’t expect that at all.”
But before court could yell murder another character appeared saying she had seen Wright fall and that the librarian was accidently tripped by none other than her.