The University of Lynchburg will present “Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery” on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Oct. 3–5, at the Robert C. Hailey Theatre in Dillard Fine Arts Center. The curtain goes up at 7:30 p.m. each night and the public is invited.
Tickets are $5 and available here.
In “Baskerville,” playwright Ken Ludwig — also known for “Lend Me a Tenor” and “Moon Over Buffalo” — takes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic novel “The Hound of the Baskervilles” and transforms it into what has been described as a “murderously funny adventure.”
Sherlock Holmes and right-hand-man Doctor Watson brave the English moors, hunting for a killer that threatens to wipe out the Baskerville family’s male heirs and trying to escape a “dizzying web of clues, silly accents, disguises, and deceit.”
“Baskerville” stars Hailey Theatre veterans Nico Thomas ’25, as Holmes, and Lane Payne ’27, as Watson. Eight additional actors will take on about three dozen other roles.
“The original script was just the two actors playing Holmes and Watson and three other actors, but we made the three [into] six and split the roles a little more evenly, rather than one person playing 15 roles, or something like that,” Thomas said.
Thomas, who describes himself as a “big detective and mystery person,” said he auditioned for the play hoping to be cast as Holmes. “I’ve read ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles.’ I’m a fan,” he said.
He describes “Baskerville” as a “mystery farce” and said it’s a “fast-paced show” and “the actors are basically athletes.”
The only challenge for him, he suspects, will be mastering Holmes’ British accent. “I really like doing accents but I’ve only had one experience with really doing an accent on stage and that was a very fake Canadian accent in another murder mystery I was in,” he said.
“I know how to do an English accent. That’s probably my only struggle — to lock the accent in.”
“Baskerville” is directed by Elizabeth Martin ’21, who was a theatre and English double major and Westover Honors Fellow at Lynchburg. As a student, she received the University’s highest-level visual and performing arts scholarship.
Martin performed in numerous Lynchburg productions: Lizzie in “Pride and Prejudice,” Viola in “Twelfth Night,” Cinderella in “Into the Woods,” and others. She directed “Correct Address” in Lynchburg’s Studio Theatre in 2020 and was a guest artist in the Spring 2024 production of “Seussical.”
In 2022, she starred in the Hallmark-style campus holiday film, “A Dell-lightfully Royal Holiday,” playing a secret princess who falls in love with a lacrosse player during a surprise blizzard.
In the greater community, Martin was stage manager for the 2023 Academy of Fine Arts production of “Annie” and she appears in community theater productions. She currently works for Alpha Sigma Alpha, a national sorority that “elevates women’s influence.”
“I’m thrilled to be returning to my alma mater to direct this show,” Martin said. “Now, more than ever, these students deserve a chance to be joyful and energetic on the stage. Baskerville is a fast and fun show that twists the familiar Sherlock Holmes story into a silly and exciting comedy.
“There’s no better group to bring this tale to life than our dynamic cast of 10 dedicated, talented, and hilarious students. I’m so excited to see the many characters and twists and turns come to life in the Hailey Theatre.”
It’s traditional for Lynchburg’s theatre department to invite alumni back to participate in productions. As a student, Martin worked with alumni on “Curtains,” a murder mystery musical. Now an alumna herself, she’s happy to return to campus.
“It was a blast to work with and learn from these alumni, some of whom I’ve worked with postgraduation in productions around the Lynchburg area,” she said. “There’s a special connection between members of the theatre department, and I’m honored to return to a place so meaningful to me and to the Lynchburg community.”
Jeff Wittman, theatre department chair, describes Martin as “intelligent and highly creative,” saying she “took advantage of all her undergraduate experiences at Lynchburg. This included course and production work and being the student manager of our box office, marketing and social media, and ticket sales.
“Elizabeth’s leadership, initiative, responsible nature, and professional-quality theater experiences make her an excellent choice as the play director for our fall production. We look forward to her working with our students in innovative and comedic ways.”
The “Baskerville” production team also includes Christopher Otwell, associate professor of scenic and lighting design; Frances Stoltz ’26, production stage manager; and Regan Weeks ’25, who will lead the costume design team for her senior theatre project.
“This is my senior project, which is something I’ve been looking forward to since joining our theatre department,” Weeks, a theatre major from Milwaukee, said.
Weeks will be joined in the costume shop by Lynchburg theatre veterans Arilyn Webster ’26 and Samira Ghravi-Nouri ’26 and newcomer Kaizer Gutierrez-Wood ’28. “The three of them help make sure the shop runs smoothly, alongside building and altering costumes,” Weeks said.
“They are phenomenal to work alongside and I cannot praise their talents enough.”
The costumes will be in keeping with the style of the 1890s, when “Baskerville” is set. “This places it at the tail end of the Victorian Era,” Weeks said. “We’re looking to be as close to that period as possible, costume-wise, however due to the quick production timeline, we’re aiming for historically inspired more so than historically accurate.
“I myself do have a bit of experience building Victorian garb, as my costuming specialty is historical clothing.”
They plan to pull as many pieces as possible from the costume shop’s inventory and then “make a few specialty pieces to create cohesion in the overall look at things,” Weeks said.
Because some actors portray several characters, the costume team will rely on accessories.
“This means the actors might be changing hats or vests to put on a new façade, without the need to build in extra time for wardrobe switching,” Weeks said. “We also plan to have a few well-timed quick changes, to allow our actors to have as much of a full costume as possible per character.
“These quick changes do, however, tend to be quite difficult to execute, as they take a lot of careful consideration in piece layering and concealment.”
In addition to Thomas and Payne, the cast of “Baskerville” includes Bobby Vinson ’25, Michael Tock ’27, Arilyn Webster ’26, Lucas Arguello ’28, Skylar Craft ’27, Josiah Randles ’25, Kaizer Gutierrez-Wood ’28, and McKenna Slocum ’27.
