So, about a year after I moved to Nebraska, Denise Marcoe (then Denise Chase) drafted me into the Main Street Players, Alliance’s community theater group. The first show I did was “The Fatal Fifties Affair”, a murder mystery set at a reunion of a 1950’s sitcom. For many years interactive murder mysteries were our big summer production.
Flash forward a few years. It’s a cast party or other get-together and the MSP gang, which now included Kent, Elaine, Elora and Tristan Bleisch; David Kuskie, Tara Stanec, Steven Crabb and other semi-regulars (take that phrase however you wish) was tossing around ideas for future shows. I threw out “Murder On Gilligan’s Island.”
And then I wrote it.
I had watched “Gilligan’s Island” every day after school for quite a few years. It was a scenario with which I was abundantly familiar. So I wrote a “lost episode” where, in the wake of yet another failed rescue, Gilligan apparently dies after being hit in the face with a poisoned coconut cream pie. Then some reality TV producers (“Survivor” was really hot then) land on the island and hijinks ensue. And spoiler alert, Gilligan wasn’t really dead. How could I kill him? It’s his island for crying out loud.
To add a little “MST3K” element I gave my play a Greek geek chorus–two guys loafing around watching the “lost” Gilligan tape and making smart alecky comments and interjections. I pictured two of our younger actors, one of whom-Dave Kuskie–ended up playing Gilligan. So my geek chorus became two…eh..somewhat older “super seniors”, brilliantly played by Mike Glesinger and Steven Crabb.
So we had a great cast, a script with some funny stuff, some amazing props like the exercise bike made of bamboo and huts and the like….anything missing here? Uh…oh! Yeah! THE MYSTERY!
Elaine Bleisch, Creative Director of the Players and director of our Gilligan show, did a life-saving rewrite while I was on vacation in Vegas. Now there was funny sitcom stuff but also a murder mystery our audience could follow.
“Murder On Gilligan’s Island” was a fun show and a proud moment for me. To have my writing performed on stage was pretty darn cool. Mom and Dad came all the way from New York to visit me and see the play. (I put something in the program thanking them for letting me squander so many hours watching “Gilligan” reruns.)
At this point you may be wondering, “Hey! The article is called ‘Gilligan’s Shirt’! You haven’t mentioned anything about a shirt yet!” To which I reply, thanks for noticing the headline. And be patient! I’m building to something here.
I had purchased a Gilligan doll as a cast gift for Dave, who was a phenomenal Gilligan. (He even dyed his hair black for the part!) But before I could make my presentation, Dave whipped off his Gilligan shirt revealing a coconut bra underneath. Which I thought was hilarious, but…why!? All was revealed when he showed me an inscription inside the collar:
The cast had purchased a Gilligan shirt for me, autographed by Bob Denver!!!!!
In the years since that play in 2004, we did a sequel play, several variety shows with Gilligan skits, and I think some of the kids acting camps used the shirt in their scenes. So the shirt has been in the protective custody of the Bleisches for a while. But today it was returned to me. And I need to do something with it–frame it, something worthy of its awesomeness.
The virus has kept our MSP regulars from mounting a show in 2020…our last production was a comedic guide to the zombie apocalypse…at this point hordes of zombies seems a rather quaint notion. Hopefully the day will come when we can take the stage (or the Eagles Club or Newberrys or wherever we can sneak in) once again.