This weekend the final performances of Agatha Christie’s over 60-year-old play, “The Mousetrap,” will take place in the Hewitt Union Ballroom.

The production was entirely put on by Oswego State students in partnership with Student Association, Blackfriars and the Oswego State Theatre Department.

“The Mousetrap” takes place outside of London and is set in the early 1950s.

“It’s about this couple who open a guest house and all sorts of strange people come stay at the guest house and they end up getting snowed in with a murderer,” said Libbie Wansink, who played the role of Paravicini. “It’s basically a race against the clock to figure out who the murderer is before another of them gets bumped off.”

Ana Richardson, a senior, directed the play as part of her student honors class. When she first read the play, Richardson said she fell in love with “The Mousetrap.”

“I was constantly led astray… I thought that it was really fun trying to guess who it was,” Richardson said.

Richardson brought her own vision to the stage. She tried to make the show “suspenseful, but also really fun.”

“I am a big fan of Clue and this show reminded me of Clue, so I kind of ran with it. I decided to base my concept on that board game,” Richardson said.

Wansink said she had to learn typical male mannerisms for her role as Paravicini. She had to do voice and diction work to be able to speak with a Romanian accent. Wansink said rehearsals were five nights a week for four hours each night. The close relationship between the actors helped the month spent rehearsing to go by quickly, Wansink said.

“We’re like basically one big dysfunctional family,” Wansink said. “When we’re onstage we’re our characters and then offstage we’re just really close friends. That helps us when we’re onstage being able to pick up cues from each other, because we can read each other at this point.”

The show ran into some obstacles right before opening night last weekend. The actor who played Detective Sergeant Trotter was replaced Thursday morning, the morning of the preview.

Spencer Ventresca, originally on the costume crew, was asked to step into the role.

“I got a text the morning of preview… I was asked, ‘Hey, would you mind stepping in for Detective Sergeant Trotter?,’” Ventresca said.

Ventresca said he was happy to fill in and began preparing immediately.

“I emailed all my professors, I was like, ‘I can’t come in,’” Ventresca said. “I spent the whole day just running lines. It’s a good thing I live with two of the other cast members, so that made it easy.”

Ventresca had his lines written in his detective notebook onstage the night of the preview. For the most part, the show still went smoothly Thursday night.

“I think it’s a testament of how strong the show is that they were able to bounce back rather quickly,” Richardson said.

Major Metcalf, one of the guests who came to stay in the house, was played by Evan Debevec-McKenney.

“I play a retired major, a veteran in the British Army,” Debevec-McKenney said of his character. “I’ve got graying hair, I smoke a pipe… I’m relatively laid back,”

Learning to speak in Major Metcalf’s accent was the most important part of getting into character for him.

“It’s the BBC accent, the royal accent, proper British,” Debevec-McKenney said.

Having previously acted in several productions at Oswego State, Richardson said being a student director was different than anything she has experienced in the theatre department.

“Directing you have to give up control in a lot of ways,” Richardson said. “You can choreograph blocking or do whatever, but you’re not the one who’s going to be up there, they are. You have to let go of your want to make it just right and just sort of let them do what they’re going to do.”

Being able to direct a play in her final semester at Oswego State gave Richardson valuable experience.

“It’s been a weird ride,” Richardson said. “It’s taught me I can’t let people walk all over me. At a certain point it’s like, ‘No, I was given this position for a reason.’ I think I have the expertise to be able to use my judgement correctly.”

In addition to a student cast, the crew was also entirely made up of students.

Emily Stott, the production’s stage manager, said managing her time was one of the most challenging aspects of being part of the show.

“It’s very difficult to balance classes with a full-time job, essentially,” Stott said.

Stott’s responsibilities included writing down cues, blocking and line notes to help the actors know what needed work. She organized the schedule and said she was the “center of communication” in all areas.

Corrine Bottelsen, the show’s costume designer, has been working on costume design since she was a freshman at Oswego State, working with over a dozen shows. Being the costume designer brought a new set of responsibilities, Bottelsen said.

“I drew all of the pictures of what the characters were going to look like,” Bottelsen said. “Everything you see on stage during the show is what I wanted them to look like. Down to their shoes, to their socks, to their makeup, that’s what I wanted.”

Bottelsen had to make eight costumes that were in line with Richardson’s vision for “The Mousetrap.”

“She said she wanted to go with Clue inspiration,” Bottelsen said. “The characters have one signature color that is featured in all of the costumes. That’s how we went with a caricature.”

There were some obstacles in the costume design process.

“We were building one jacket for Christopher, who is in yellow, and it just didn’t look right on stage,” Bottelsen said. “I spent four weeks hand building a tailored jacket and we had to cut it. It was a rough afternoon when we decided we had to cut it.”

Molly Horth was a member of the wardrobe crew. Horth said her responsibilities included keeping track of costume pieces and cleaning and steaming costumes. The costume crew received help from students in a basic costume editing class.

“It’s really neat to watch the show being put together,” Horth said.

Despite the challenges they faced, the students were all able to support each other during the performances of “The Mousetrap.”

“I think it’s very impressive for us to be able to put a show like that together in one month,” Debevec-McKenney said. “It’s everyone working together to do that. No one can take full credit for that because it’s such a team effort.”

Stott said the cast got energy from the audience. The audience “laughed a lot” and seemed to have a lot of fun with the performance.

This week, students are resting as much as possible before the three performances this weekend.

“I’m getting as much sleep as I possibly can,” Wansink said. “I’m talking little as possible, I’m refraining from doing any accents…to give my voice a rest. I’m drinking lots of water.”

All three shows last weekend were sold out. “The Mousetrap” will be performed this Friday, March 11 and Saturday, March 12 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 13 at 2 p.m. in the Hewitt Union Ballroom. Tickets are $7 for Oswego State students and $15 for the general public.