Cast in order of appearance:
Letitia Blacklock, Mary Pavia
Julia Simmons, Maggie Rathke
Dora “Bunny” Bunner, Judy DiVita
Patrick Simmons, Mike Janke
Mitzi, Linda Lee Metz
Miss Jane Marple, Therese Harrold
Phillipa Haymes, Jennifer Jindrich
Mrs. Swettenham Mary Ellen Schutt
Edmund Swettenham, Kevin Slattery
Rudi Scherz, Peter Hilton
Inspector Craddock, William FitzGerald
Sergeant Mellors, John Mueller
Director’s Note
The “Who Done It” has been a staple of modern
literature in all forms dating back to the 1840s when Edgar Allen
Poe first published “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”. Since that
time, books, newspapers, theaters, and in the last century, film
and television have offered the public tales of mystery and intrigue
where clever sleuths have been pitted against master criminals looking
for that elusive clue that will ultimately reveal the “Who” in “Who
Done It.”
Agatha Christie is the queen among these writers with a career that
spanned more than half a century and included 79 novels and short
story collections. She also wrote over a dozen plays including The
Mousetrap, which opened in London on November 25, 1952, and eventually
became the longest continuously-running play in theatrical history.
Tonight’s offering features Miss Jane Marple of
St. Mary Mead as the amateur sleuth who untangles the web of mystery
and deceit, unveiling for all the criminal who perpetrated the crime.
My wife has always been fascinated by these tales
(as has a huge audience) as they follow the detective searching
for the clues to the crime in hopes of solving the mystery before
the author finally points the definitive finger at the true perpetrator.
For me, the mystery has always been a bit different than the “Who”.
Granted, the fun in this genre is tracking the clues and coming
to a conclusion before it is given, but what keeps me coming back
for more is the “Why.”
People have always fascinated me. We are such a wide and varied
breed. We have the unique ability in nature to determine the difference
between right and wrong, and yet, history is littered with individuals
who make the wrong choice. I cannot help but feel that anyone who
is reading these words right now is guilty of this transgression
in some form and to some degree. Certainly, I can vouch for this
author. The criminals in the mystery have always given me the opportunity
to explore this trait to the extreme. What is it about these characters
that make them fall off that fence to the dark side? In their heart
of hearts, do they really believe that they will be able to live
with themselves even if they get away with their crime? I recognize
that the sociopath exists in our society, but this is not the character
we are addressing here. Ultimately we are looking at average people
who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances. If we can begin
to understand what motivates them, we can begin to unravel the mystery
of why we are what we are. It is here that the true mystery begins.
About the Play
A Murder Is Announced, published as a novel in 1950, has long
been considered a classic of detective fiction. It is surprising,
then, that the book was not adapted for the stage until a year after
Agatha Christie’s death. It was, however, the first Miss Marple
mystery to be adapted for television. A Murder Is Announced was
presented live on the nbc Television Goodyear Playhouse on December
30, 1956; it featured Gracie Fields, Jessica Tandy, and Roger Moore.
It was remade for the bbc in 1985.
The
play was first presented at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, and
subsequently at the Vaudeville Theatre, London, where it opened on
September 21, 1977.
About the Author
Mystery and murder made Agatha Christie a world-renowned writer.
She is considered the “Queen of Crime”, though her preferred
title was “Duchess of Death”. Only the Bible and Shakespeare
have outsold this prolific British author. Her talents were not
limited to the mystery genre—under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott,
she wrote six psychological romance novels. She wrote nonfiction as
well. Agatha Christie was born Agatha May Clarissa Miller, in
Torquay, in the county of Devon, England. She was the daughter of an
American, Frederick Alvah Miller, and Clarissa Miller. Christie’s
early education was at home, where she was encouraged to write. At
the age of 16, she studied singing and piano in Paris. Stage fright
curtailed her career in music, but lead her to a life as a writer.
In 1914, Agatha Miller married Archibald Christie, an
officer in the Flying Royal Corps.; their daughter, Rosalind, was
born in 1919. During World War I, Christie worked in a Red Cross
Hospital, where she acquired a knowledge of poisons (one of her
preferred means of murder.) Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair
at Styles (1920)—introducing Hercule Poirot—was based partly on
her nursing experiences.
Archie Christie left Agatha for a younger woman in 1926. In the same
year Christie’s beloved mother died. Agatha Christie’s
subsequent disappearance—a headline story around the world—added
to her mystique.
In 1930, two years after her divorce was finalized, Christie married
the archaeologist Max Mallowan. Her travels with him on his
excavations of sites in Syria and Iraq were reflected in the exotic
settings of her new novels, Murder in Mesopotamia (1936) and Death
on the Nile (1937).
In 1971, Agatha Christie achieved Britian’s highest honor, Order
of Dame Commander of the British Empire. Lady Mallowan died on
January 12, 1976 in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, but Agatha Christie
lives on.
About the Adapter
Leslie Darbon is a British dramatist. He wrote teleplays for the
bbc series Department S, a late-’60s show featuring a flamboyant
collection of detectives who solved cases of impossible
circumstances. He also contributed to the bbc mystery series
Bergerac. Among his plays are two farces, Two and Two Make Sex and
Who Goes Bare?, both written in 1974 with Richard Harris. In 1976,
he penned a suspence drama, Double Edge, with Peter Whelan. He wrote
Time to Kill, an original stage mystery in 1979. In 1981, he adapted
a second Agatha Christie novel for the stage, Cards on the Table.
Acknowledgments:
Produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.
Special Thanks:
Members of Girl Scout Troup 254 and the Girl Scouts of DuPage helped
construct flats used in building the set walls.
Tereza Sakac, Daisy Lancaster, and Cassandra Johnson provided
examples and assistance for the Hungarian dialect used in the show.
Jill Neely and Dick and Charron Traut were particularly
generous in loaning the Theatre furniture for this production.
Sabina Usher graciously provided the china lamps.
More Photos
Page 2 Page
3
|
Setting:
An early Victorian house in Chipping Cleghorn, England, during the
1940s.
Production Credits:
Director, Philip F. Nardulli
Stage Manager, Terry Locke
Assistant Stage Manager, Liz Steele
Costume Designer, Janel Horvath
Costume Crew, Mary Dempsey, Tom Frohnapfel, Mary O’Dowd, Carmel
Opre, Karen Smith
Dialect Coach, Martin Aistrope
Dramaturgs: William Love, Carol Ann Suda
Lighting Designers: Angelee Johns, Cal Turner
Lighting Crew, Karen Holbert, Sue Kuehnhold, Paul Roach
Makeup Designer: Lori D’Asta
Makeup Crew, Karen Arnold, Nicole D’Asta, Mary Ellen Druyan, Eileen
Duban, Carolyn Krohn, Fred Sauers
Properties Designer: George Dempsey
Properties Crew, Jane Bowers, Brian Centers,
Dennis Hudson, Pat Huth, Julie Suarez, Charron Traut
Set Designer, Margaret Nikoleit
Set Construction Chair, Michael Huth
Set Construction Crew, Kirby Harris, Heinz Karplus, Art Kelly, Bill
Rotz, Noel Smith, Tom Squillo
Set Painting Chairs, Tricia Boren, Pat Huth
Set Painting Crew, Michael Boren, Peggy Carlson, Amy Coons, Tim
Feeney, Karen Holbert, Donna Marie Kanak, Mary Pavia, Lori B. Proksa,
Susan Remy, Sandy Squillo
Sound Designer, Stephanie Williams
Sound Crew, Stephanie Robey
Production Box Office Chair, Mary Ellen Schutt
Production Box Office Crew, Peg Callaghan, Susan Cardamone, Ruth
Cekal, Terry Kozlowski, JoAnn Mallon, Joan Roeder, Patti Roeder,
Sandy Squillo, Carol Ann Suda, Virginia Swinnen, Marilyn Wilson
Production Group Sales Chair, Karen Holbert
Production Hospitality Crew: Catherine Bloomer, Brian Centers, Carol
Clarke, Mike DeKovic, Chet Dubowski, Bonnie Hilton, Karen Holbert,
Caitlin Machak, Lisa Machak, Nikita Machak, Jim Patten, Joanne Patten,
Lauren Patten, Nora Patten, Rob Snyder, Gregg Valek, Lenka Valek
Production House Managers: David Bremer, Jack Calvert, Jim Dutton,
Mike Mallon, Jon Mills, Bill Rotz, Tom Schutt, Bill Wilson, Denny
Wise Production Lobby Photo Display:
Marjorie Mason Heffernan, Jane Stacy
Production Posters: Kathleen Kusper
Production Program Chairs: Carol Ann Suda, Merrilyn Tomchaney
Production Program Design: John Vilhauer
Production Publicity Chair, Bonnie Hilton
Dramaturg
notes
Perry Mason Step Aside!
by William Love
A Murder Is Announced has, for the confirmed mystery
buff, all the allure of the Agatha Christie mystery novel, with
the added attraction of being enacted by real, live people—a mystery
novel brought to life. Thus, the “reader” is enabled to match wits
with the author in “real time”: the time that it takes to enact
the story on the stage over the course of an evening. Allow me to
point out a couple of things to watch for that this particular (and
experienced) mystery buff has learned over many years of being delightfully
fooled. For those who may be reading these notes prior to seeing
the play, I promise not to spoil your enjoyment by giving away any
“helpful hints” to solving the puzzle being staged.
1. Never assume that anything anyone says is true. Every character
is suspect; consequently, every character may be lying.
2. Do not think that just because you, as an astute audience member,
have caught a character in a lie that you have now identified the
perpetrator of a more serious crime. If you do manage to catch someone
lying, congratulations...but be aware that the playwright may be
setting you up. The playwright may have woven the lie into the plot
as a red herring. As Perry Mason once famously observed, “Being
a liar is not equivalent to being a murderer!”
3. Watch for clues to be found in the very warp and woof of the
play’s basic plot. If a clue seems to stick
out like a sore thumb, chances are it is a “plant”, a red herring
put there by the author for the sole purpose of throwing you off
the scent. On the contrary, try to be alert to the nuances of the
plot as it plays itself out. The more “natural” a plot development
may seem, the more likely it may be to contain a clue to the how,
why, or who of the basic mystery.
4. Finally, for those of you for whom solving a puzzle is the farthest
thing from your mind...you have my condolences. You are not “into”
mysteries. But not to despair! The non-mystery buff can still enjoy
A Murder Is Announced purely as a story. The humor and occasional
pathos of the characters involved, the interweaving of their various
interests and desires, still furnishes an entertaining evening of
theatre. Nonetheless, I do have to tell you: it is yet more fun
if you can get into the puzzle elements. The two most pleasurable
reactions to the solution of one of these mystery plots are (1)
“I KNEW IT! That is just who I picked as the murderer!” or (2) “How
stupid I am! I had all the clues, I now see, to solve the mystery...but
I blew it!” Having been in both positions—the second, I must admit,
far more often than the first!—I cannot really claim that either
one is superior to the other in terms of pure enjoyment.
In any case, enjoy the show.
Background
The Joys of Writing a Mystery
by William Love
In 1988, when I first conceived the idea of a mystery novel (The
Chartreuse Clue) and conceived the idea of actually, physically
writing a mystery novel, I was surprised, upon beginning, to
discover how devilishly hard it was. Having never written (much less
published) any other type of novel, I cannot compare relative
difficulties involved in writing a mystery (as opposed to writing a
different kind of story). I can only speak to what is involved in
trying to get onto paper the intricacies of a mystery novel. At
every stage, the mystery novelist finds himself or herself faced
with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. You have to come up with
not one, but at least five motives for murder. This is because, by
one of the canons of the mystery novel (a canon is almost never
violated and for good reason!) you must give the reader at least
five viable suspects; fewer than five is not regarded as a
sufficient challenge to the thoughtful reader. Thus, within the
novel, at least five characters must have substantial motives for
wanting the eventual victim dead. It gets worse. Every one of the
suspects must also have ample opportunity to have done the deed,
equal access to the murder weapon, and each must have a plausible
alibi! (One of which, of course, will eventually be exposed as
invalid. But still!) Furthermore, all this data must be handed to
the reader, not openly and directly , as in a crossword puzzle, but
indirectly and (one sincerely hopes) subtly—in the guise of
telling a story. Readers of a mystery novel know they are in fact
engaged in a battle of wits with the puzzle-spinning writer, but
must not have their noses “rubbed in it”. Both writer and reader
must pretend they are engaged in an act of simple storytelling—the
writer deftly weaving clues into the warp and woof of the story, the
reader trying to ferret those out, and still be entertained by the
plot.
I cannot tell you how fiendishly hard this is for a writer: to spin
an (hopefully!) entertaining tale, while at the very same time and
with the very same words, setting up an elaborate puzzle for the
reader to solve. But the rewards can be great. One of the greatest
moments of my life was when I got a phone call from a
bookseller-friend and fan of my mysteries. “You know, Bill,” she
told me, “I figured out the killer in your latest book quicker
than I did in any of the rest. By page 100, I knew who dunnit. But
guess what? I was completely and utterly wrong!”
There is no satisfaction like it!
|
