‘Death by Dessert’: Faith Academy Charter Middle School performs at dinner theater

Published 12:00 am Thursday, April 17, 2025

By Karen Kistler

Karen Kistler

karen.kistler@salisburypost.com

 

FAITH — Fun, food and mystery were all on the menu April 11 and 12 as the Faith Academy Charter Middle School Theater Arts Department presented a dinner theater production titled “Death by Dessert” by Nathan Hartswick.

The middle school students performed to a packed room at the Family Life Center at Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, 205 S. Main St., Faith, which served as the host for the two-night event. 

The mystery play, which is set in Little Italy, is about two rival restaurant owners with a murder taking place in one of them and multiple suspects. Mixed in the telling of what happened through flashbacks by the victim, the audience watches a love story blossom and they learn of an old family secret.

Audience participation was part of the dinner theater as they watched the play and then tried to guess who they thought committed the murder, all the while enjoying an Italian catered meal of spaghetti, salad and dessert.

Attendees at each table filled out their guess and turned it in with answers to be tallied later in the evening.

Following the performance, Lydia Allen, the middle school’s theater teacher, announced that 10 of the tables had guessed correctly as to who the guilty party was in this mystery play.

Before everyone was invited to a meet and greet with the students, Allen also took the opportunity to express thanks to everyone who helped with the production.

She told the crowd that every actor, actress and waitstaff were middle school students and said it is her “absolute honor and privilege to have this job and to get to work with these kids every single day.” 

Thanks were also given to her associate Sharla Drury who served as the waitstaff director, who, along with her kitchen staff trained all of the waiters and waitresses to plate and serve the food, getting the timing correct for the evening.

Allen said thanks to Debbie Suggs who catered the meal and donated all the food.

Thanks also went to Maria Freeman who helped serve as well as helped with the casting for the production.

Allen also thanked the school administration, who she said, “believed in this production, believed in these kids, and believed in me” plus to all the teachers, staff and parents who donated their time to help. 

To the parents she expressed additional thanks telling them that “this production could not have happened without you the parents.”

A special thank you was also extended to the church, noting what a great venue it was and to Tim Williams and Jeff Mills, who she said, “really helped me pull all this together.”

Cast members and their roles in the play were Jasmine Martine as Maria; Cannon Causey as Don; Kynnlie Miller-Barroso as Donna; Balian Witt as Nino; Macaela Dellinger as Nina; Jayden Tamayo as Frankie; Ethan Matthews as Louie; Penelope Sease as Francie; Belle Hutchinson as Louise; Cullin Lingo as busboy; Zoey Rakes as busgirl; Karyssa Prince as Nonno; Heather Hinson as Nonna; and waitresses Layla Hanks, Emilee Hinson, Amelia Gardner and Zoey Zemanick.

In addition to Allen, Suggs, Drury and Freeman, Brady Bost was also a member of the production crew, serving as the stage manager.

Waitstaff members were Payton Cheatham, Ally Brick, Jordan Froemming, Emaleigh Jarrell, Talia Lord, Shania Locklear, Aubrielle Walter, Hunter Lanning, Jordyn Taylor, Kassidy Staley, Emily Giddings, Katy Probst, Grace Santiago, Alice Mitchell, Anna Savage, Skylar Benton, Lily Adams, Anna Harrington, Aubrey Crotts and Rylan Haas.

Many of the cast members shared what a fun experience this dinner theater was for them.

Kynnlie, an eighth grader, was one who expressed how fun it was.

“Everyone was really nice and really supportive. It was a great experience to work with everyone and I felt like at the end of the play everyone really came together,” she said. “At every rehearsal we got better and better, and it was great.”

Eighth-grader Jasmine said she enjoyed how everything “came together so easily with all the cast. I feel like everyone fit into the role almost perfectly and we wouldn’t be able to do it if everyone didn’t actually work toward their character.” She also mentioned how Allen helped in the production and how supportive everyone was with the roles.

Allen said it was easy to cast this play.

“Everyone really embodied their character from the very first casting call that we did, and they really just took it and ran with it.”

She said that the students came up with ideas on how to improve the scenes, and “we tried to incorporate as many as we could. These kids are phenomenal.”

Marcaela, also an eighth-grader, likewise said she enjoyed working with the cast, and she felt that the group all came together at the end.

“It was nice,” she said. “We all had our rough patches that we had to work on, but we got those worked out and it was really great.”

For Balian, an eighth-grader, he said that he “really enjoyed bringing out my roots with this part because I am very happily Italian,” plus he said that his mother’s side of the family came from New York and New Jersey, so he felt connected to his roots with this part and enjoyed it.

Ethan, also in the eighth grade, said he had done other plays before but this was his first dinner theater.

“It was actually really fun,” he said. “I really enjoyed being no scripts and in character because it’s really fun playing an idiot, and there’s a lot of potential.”

Cannon said that the play was really cool.

“This is the first time I’ve ever had to act with an accent,” he said.

He added that this was also his first dinner play and was happy about that and it was his last play as an eighth grader. “It was really fun,” he added.

Several seventh graders shared about their experiences in the play including Cullin who said this was his first time and it was stressful at first; however it got better once the show started.

“I heard everybody laughing and I just picked up and went with it. It was really easy for me to do.” 

Heather said she loved everything about the experience. She said it was a perfect cast and “I feel like she did amazing with the people that she picked. Everything was amazing,” she said. “I loved everything.”

Sixth grader Zoey also commented on how fun the experience was and how the cast was great and their director is so good.

“We love our director,” she said, noting that she is also a good teacher and is “very kind to the cast. Our cast was amazing.”

Jayden, also a sixth grader, said this was his first time in a play and he loved the experience.

Looking at the director, he smiled and said, “there was one line,” but added that he got it at the end.

“I loved it, it was a great experience. If I had to do it again, I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” he said.

Allen said that she had taught coding and computers in the fall and then taught theater in the spring, “so this is the first time that we got to do one.” However, next year she said she would be a full-time theater teacher and they plan to do two productions, one in the fall and one in the spring.

She said that theater is growing at the school and she teaches 160 students a day, which, she said, is more than half of the middle school.

It’s huge, she said, “that so many kids are interested in it, and I hope that this helps the whole program to continue to grow.” 

When asked about if they would offer another dinner theater, Allen said it got great community support and reviews and that everybody is wanting another to take place, so she hopes they can have one in the spring.

As for this mystery dinner theater and of all the suspects, who was proven to be the guilty party? Wouldn’t you like to know!

 

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