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Annie Brooks' version of a familiar nursery rhyme doesn't end the way most people remember it.

"Jack and Jill went up the hill,

To fetch a pail of water —

But Jill couldn't take his crap anymore,

So she killed him."

Thus begins "The Art of Murder," the first play of Prince George's Little Theatre's 49th season.

Written by Joe DiPietro, the play is a who's-trying-to-kill-whom mystery surrounding Annie, a beleaguered creator of mediocre collages; her sinister husband Jack Brooks, whose floundering art career makes him even more maniacal; their quick-witted art dealer and agent Vincent Cummings; and the couple's chemistry degree wielding maid Kate.

Roy Peterson, president of Prince George's Little Theatre said the group chose "The Art of Murder" to open the season because it was different from any other murder mystery the community theater had come across.

"This isn't a bunch of innocent-looking people making you think ‘Who's the murderer?" Peterson said. "There are some very nasty characters in this show and the fact that there are so many twists leaves the audience guessing right up until the last five minutes of the show … It's not like you can figure it out by the middle of the first act and you just know what's going to happen."

"The Art of Murder" is not only PGLT's first murder mystery since putting on Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap" in 2005, it's the first, and hopefully only, of the group's shows being played in the Bowie City Hall's Multipurpose Room, Peterson said.

Renovations to the Bowie Playhouse in Whitemarsh Park forced PGLT and two other theater companies it shares the space with to open their productions for this season at the City Hall building. The renovations are scheduled for completion in mid-November.

"The whole City Hall thing is new for us," he said. "We're a little worried about how many people we'll lose that regularly come to our shows because they don't really know where the other place is."

The play's director, 19-year-old Tyler Baldwin of Laurel, said she and the cast overcame the challenge of working on the smaller stage at the group's temporary home by rehearsing in an even smaller space.

"Luckily it's a one-room set and a four-person show," said first-time director Baldwin. "The space we're working in is actually 10 feet smaller on either side than the space we're actually going to be in, which is very helpful for the actors because they learn how to move in a smaller space. When we get to the larger space there won't be problems."

Tyler, a sophomore theatre production and film direction student at Howard Community College, said the classes she's taken for her major have been helpful in managing her responsibilities as director.

"Before I started taking acting, I was a nervous wreck," she said. "I was so convinced I couldn't direct and I had no idea what I'd gotten myself into. Now, I have complete confidence and my dad says I'm a completely different person when I'm directing than in real life."

Her dad, community theater director James Baldwin, has also been a constant source of feedback.

"When I'm with my actors I have a very clear vision, but after every rehearsal, I always go up to my dad and ask, ‘How was that? Was that OK? How's it looking,' " Tyler said. "I know my father is the one person who will tell me if something is wrong and if he doesn't think something will work."

IF YOU GO

The Art of Murder

When: 8 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sunday through Nov. 1

Where: Bowie City Hall, 2614 Kenhill Drive, Bowie

Tickets: $15, $10 seniors and students

Box office: 301-937-7458 or visit www.pglt.org