HCP Board Members Lorine and Jim Spencer, and Mary Adair Trumbly
Theater lovers across the Plateau have an entertaining season to look forward to as Highlands Cashiers Players has cued up a fun 2026 theatrical season, beginning with a wicked interactive murder mystery dinner theater event, For Better or Worse, at the Highlands Performing Arts Center.
For Better or Worse centers on four couples attending a luxury couples’ retreat at the Everlasting Love B&B. The couples become entangled in a mystery following a murder. Audience members will be integral to the plot, examining clues left within the venue and interviewing characters from the retreat as they enjoy a catered dinner at their tables. The evening culminates in the reveal of the perpetrator, when audience members will find out if their guesses were correct.
“One of our board members, Lorine Spencer, suggested kicking off our season with a mystery dinner theater, and we thought it would be a fun way to involve our audience in the production and allow them to enjoy a nice dinner for Valentine’s Day at the same time,” said HCP board president April Getz.
Dates for the production are February 13 and 14. Doors open at 6:00 P.M. and dinner begins at 6:30 P.M. General admission tickets are $55, including dinner and non-alcoholic drinks. Wine and cocktails will be available for purchase. Table seating is first-come, first-served. Every effort will be made to accommodate group seating requests.
HCP’s mainstage season will continue throughout the year with four more productions, each running for eight nights beginning in March with Grace and Glorie. This play is set in the Blue Ridge Mountains, follows the unlikely friendship between Grace, a sharp-tongued, terminally ill woman in rural Virginia, and Glorie, a Harvard-educated volunteer who comes to care for her. Grace and Glorie will be directed by Jayne Pleasants.
Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap hits the stage in August. Holding the honor of the world’s longest-running play, The Mousetrap, which opened in London’s West End in 1952, will be directed by veteran HCP member Craig Eister.
The October show is Dracula Double Feature. The production will feature two Dracula-themed short plays, Almost the Bride of Dracula and Midlife Dracula, both written by Dennis Snee. The show will be directed by Randy Lucas, a seasoned HCP actor known for his love of Halloween.
There will also be a mainstage production in May. Details on that show will be forthcoming.
For ticket information visit highlandscashiersplayers.com or call the PAC box office at (828) 526-9047.
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