Scandal at Hampton Estate

Full-Lengths

By: Donna Van Oss
Cast: 6 M, 18 F, 4 flexible, opt. extras
Performance Time: Approximately 120 minutes, 89 pgs.

FARCE/MURDER-MYSTERY. To impress her snobby friends and to celebrate her new appointment as the city’s Social Calendar Chairperson, Ivana Hampton has planned a fabulous costume ball and has invited all the city’s upper crust citizens, including the mayor, to the Hampton Estate. Even a TV society reporter arrives to cover this important social event. The party goes smoothly at first for Ivana until a throng of hick relatives unexpectedly show up, Ivana’s mother starts talking to her imaginary friend, a hobo crashes the party, and Ivana’s elderly uncle arrives dressed as Hugh Hefner and introduces everyone to his 24-year-old fiancée. Then things really go downhill when the cook fails to prepare any food, the lights go out, the security guard gets murdered, the famous Hampton heirloom is stolen, and a ransom note demanding $10 million dollars is discovered. When two detectives arrive to investigate the murder and announce that no one can leave the estate, the hungry guests find themselves trapped at what could be the worst party in the city’s history!

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Donna Van Oss has taught high school drama for more than 25 years.  She has helped her students write and perform various works from full-length plays to children's scripts.  She and her husband, Danny, live in Baton Rouge, LA. They have two adult children, Sam and Amelia.