“Death” (Logan Namitz) takes Sam (Mariah Kerr) by the hand in the play “Cheating Death.”

The Grant Union Junior-Senior High School drama club kept their audience guessing and laughing Saturday as they presented a comedy and a mystery-comedy on the Grant Union stage.

“Cheating Death,” a one-act comedy featuring junior high students, and “Maniac Manor,” with senior high students, were the club’s debut plays for the 2017-18 school year.

Drama advisors Kathy Sherwood and Angela Smith directed 18 actors in the double feature.

“I’m proud of all the kids,” Sherwood said.

She said the junior high students had to memorize many lines as they stayed on stage for the entire play.

“They did a great job,” she said. “The high schoolers — they’re older and have more acting experience — really get into character.”

She added, “Maggie Justice, Mindi Teague and Logan Namitz did an outstanding job memorizing their lines.”

Justice, who played a detective in “Maniac Manor,” had 141 lines, and her sidekick Teague had 78. Namitz, who played “Death” in “Cheating Death,” had 137 lines.

“When you have a small drama club, you have to be flexible, and the kids really stepped up,” Sherwood said.

Both Sherwood and Smith have high school acting experience.

Sherwood was an assistant advisor to long-time Grant Union director Julie Reynolds last school year, as well as drama instructor for the Youth Arts Program last summer. Smith also took a college-level acting course.