Northwestern Cast to Bring Nursery Rhymes to Life in ‘Hard Boiled: A Nursery Crime’ Nov. 22
November 11, 2025
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Members of the large cast for “Hard Boiled: A Nursery Crime” at Northwestern Oklahoma State University gather for a table read as they kick off rehearsals for the production for young audiences. The play is open to the public on Nov. 22 at 2 p.m. in the Fellers Family Auditorium in Herod Hall on the Alva campus. |
ALVA, Okla. -- Children of all ages, plus adults, are welcome to attend the public performance of the next Northwestern Oklahoma State University theatre production for young audiences, “Hard Boiled: A Nursery Crime” by Tracy Wells.
The production, produced by special arrangement with Pioneer Drama Service in Denver, Colorado, will be in the Fellers Family Auditorium in Herod Hall in Alva on Saturday, Nov. 22, at 2 p.m. Admission to everyone is $2.
Classes from local and area elementary schools will attend the production on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 20-21.
Kimberly Weast, chair of the Department of Fine Arts, professor of theatre arts, and director of the children’s play, said there are several people in the cast for this production, where audience members will see that people don’t have to be “eggs-perts” to love this series of nursery rhyme-inspired vignettes that offer incredibly flexible casting and minimal props and sets.
This production will show that being a hard-boiled detective in the Nursery Rhyme Unit isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and it’s hardly ever sunny side up!
According to the synopsis for the play, the story will show Humpty Dumpty coming in scrambled and shell-shocked from a fall; it’s up to a team of punny detectives to interview all the unusual suspects and wacky witnesses. From five little monkeys, five Jacks and a Jill, a fiddling cat, and a vowel-loving farmer and his barnyard friends, to a screaming teapot, three blind mice, three mitten-less kittens, an old woman in a shoe, and more, it seems everyone is scrambling to prove their innocence.
This investigation won’t be over-easy, that much is certain, but with the egg-timer ticking, these detectives need to crack the case wide open before they end up with egg on their face! Can Detective Bacon and his team figure out whodunit, or will it turn out that Humpty Dumpty is just a practical yolk-er all along?
Questions about this play or the fine arts department should be directed to Weast at kkweast@nwosu.edu or (580) 327-8462. Additional information about the department can be found on the Department of Fine Arts website at www.nwosu.edu/fine-arts.
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