It's not just a great story. It's a great story that just might make you scream out loud.
Northern Stage's live production of "Deathtrap," by Ira Levin ("Rosemary's Baby," "The Stepford Wives"), boasts an incredible cast, including Dan Butler, featured for over 11 years as Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe on "Frasier." Levin, who author Stephen King called "the Swiss watchmaker of suspense novels," has crafted a matchless tale of double-crosses that will leave audiences breathless, with a stunning twist at the end.
"Deathtrap," directed by Catherine Doherty, runs live on stage at the Briggs Opera House in White River Junction from October 29-November 16, 2008. Performances are Tuesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 5:00 p.m., with 2:00 p.m. matinees on Thursday, Nov. 6 and Saturdays Nov. 8 and 15. For tickets and information, call 802-296-7000. Tickets are also available through the Northern Stage Web site, www.northernstage.org.
Veteran writer Sidney Bruhl and his protégé, Clifford Anderson, meet at Bruhl's home in Connecticut. Sidney has hit a wall. He has run dry of ideas. When he discovers that Clifford has written a terrific thriller titled "Deathtrap," he is determined to collaborate with the younger playwright. Sidney and his wife Myra plot to convince Clifford to go along with the plan, but who is plotting against whom?
The Northern Stage production of "Deathtrap" is sponsored by Sabil & Sons, Domus and Gilberte Interiors.
About the Cast
Dan Butler of "Frasier" fame returns to the theater after an extensive career that includes appearances in "Columbo," "Ally McBeal," "House" and "The X Files." He recently co-directed and appeared in the feature film "Karl Rove, I Love You." He makes his Northern Stage debut as Sidney Bruhl. Bruhl's wife Myra is portrayed by Felicity La Fortune, whose Broadway appearances include Tom Stoppard's epic "The Coast of Utopia," "The Light in the Piazza" and Edward Albee's "The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?" Her numerous television apperances include "Sex and the City," "The Sopranos" and "thirtysomething," as well as seven years on "All My Children" and "Ryan's Hope." Richard Waterhouse parlayed a successful acting career into a position as one of the most sought-after acting coaches in Los Angeles, with clients including actors from "Frasier," "Desperate Housewives" and "According To Jim." Charis Leos last appeared here as Georgie in "The Full Monty," and past Northern Stage productions include "Dancing At Lughnasa," "Blithe Spirit" and "Annie." Thomas Kyle Miller returns after turns in "Dancing At Lughnasa" and "Moon Over Buffalo." Both Miller and Leos have extensive regional theater credits that span the nation.
About the Director
Catherine Doherty co-directed The Crucible and I Am My Own Wife and has directed The Elephant Man, Driving Miss Daisy, Doubt, How the Other Half Loves, A Chorus Line, Moon Over Buffalo, Lend Me A Tenor, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change!, Of Mice and Men, Private Lives and the staged reading of An Empty Plate at the Café du Grande Boeuf. She previously directed Stones In His Pockets and I Love You You're Perfect Now Change! at St. Michael's Playhouse. Before coming to Northern Stage, Catherine's credits include co-producing several Off-Broadway productions with Padua Playwrights and random.acts theatre co (of which she is a member). She was the assistant director and production stage manager of the Lincoln Center production of Normal Heart. Catherine has worked with numerous theater companies, including Paper Mill Playhouse (Milburn, NJ), The John F. Kennedy Center and Arena Stage. She is also on the advisory board of the Instant Theatre Company in Highlands, NC. While in Los Angeles, she worked in a variety of capacities with television networks CBS, ABC and Fox. Catherine holds an MFA in Performance from the University of Georgia and an MFA in Film Direction from the American Film Institute. Her short film, Family Portrait, received the prestigious Ida Lupino Award for Outstanding Film Direction from the Director's Guild of America, and she recently won two Telly Awards for video production at Northern Stage.
About the Author
Ira Levin (1929-2007), was famously described by Stephen King as "the Swiss watchmaker of suspense novels; he makes what the rest of us do look like cheap watchmakers in drug stores." And while he is perhaps best known for Deathtrap and for his chilling novel Rosemary's Baby, Levin had a remarkably varied career. Born in Manhattan, he attended Drake University in Iowa before transferring to New York University, and he also served in the Army Signal Corps. Married and divorced twice, he had three sons.
His first great success came with the stage adaptation of the absurd comedy No Time for Sergeants, which was followed by the ill-fated musical Drat! The Cat!, which ran for only eight performances. Although he wrote only seven novels in a 40-plus-year career, most were notable, from Rosemary to The Boys From Brazil, A Kiss Before Dying (winner of the mystery writers' Edgar Award for Best First Novel) and The Stepford Wives. He also wrote a lesser-known sequel titled Son of Rosemary in 1997, which tells the story of the famed devil baby's adulthood. His accolades include the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award (which he one twice) and the Horror Writers Association's Bram Stoker Award for lifetime achievement.
Another of his less successful ventures was the play titled Dr. Cook's Garden, a strange work about a country doctor who "weeded out" the weak and evil in the fictional town of Greenfield Center, VT. The New York Times described the play as written "perhaps in haste and evidently not with clarity of purpose." Stranger still, the film version starred Bing Crosby.
"I feel guilty that 'Rosemary's Baby' led to 'The Exorcist,' 'The Omen,'" he told The Los Angeles Times in 2002. "A whole generation has been exposed, has more belief in Satan. I don't believe in Satan. And I feel that the strong fundamentalism we have would not be as strong if there hadn't been so many of these books."
"Of course," he added, "I didn't send back any of the royalty checks."
About the Play
Many jobs are filled with frustration. But not many have faced the frustration of Jan Farrand and Patricia Guinan.
Guinan appeared in three Broadway productions, and Farrand seven, none of which ran for a long time or attained much notoriety. The two, however, shared a unique distinction: they both served as understudies for the role of Myra Bruhl in the Broadway production of Deathtrap. The play ran for 1,793 performances from Feb. 26, 1978 through June 13, 1982, first at the Music Box Theatre and then at the Biltmore, and the renowned stage actress Marian Seldes performed the role of Myra for the entire four-plus-year run. For every single performance. She never missed one. In fact, she is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "most durable actress" for this feat, which is, perhaps, viewed with delighted awe by everyone in the theater world except for Ms. Guinan and Ms. Farrand.
Longtime Northern Stage fans will enjoy this bit of trivia: Marian Seldes performed in the original Off-Broadway production of Edward Albee's Three Tall Women. The Northern Stage production of that play, in 2002, featured Jayne Heller, who appeared in the film version of Deathtrap. It's a small world after all! Heller played one of several roles that were added for the film version, notable for Dyan Cannon's performance as Myra, which earned a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actress. (The "winner" was Aileen Quinn for the title role in Annie. Other "winners" that year included Pia Zadora, Ed McMahon, and—believe it or not—Laurence Olivier for Inchon, which was named Worst Picture.)
Deathtrap, unfortunately, is often confused with the earlier two-person play Sleuth, another suspense thriller about a mystery writer, a mix-up that is enhanced by the fact that Michael Caine appeared in the film version of both. And, by coincidence, both appeared in the same Broadway theater. But Deathtrap has both the macabre and comic touches reminiscent of other works by Ira Levin. At the time the play closed, it was the fifth-longest-running straight play in Broadway history, after Life with Father, Tobacco Road, Abie's Irish Rose and Gemini, and it still holds that position.
The title obviously suits the play well, but the term "deathtrap" has a meaning beyond the play. Have you ever seen a scene in a film in which the bad guy has a perfectly good opportunity to shoot his nemesis in the head and be done with it, only to drive audiences crazy by placing him in a contrived, drawn-out, "inescapably fatal" situation from which the hero ultimately escapes? That's a deathtrap. Some well-known examples of this include Raiders of the Lost Ark, in which Indiana Jones escapes from the Well of Souls by toppling a statue, revealing an exit; the memorable scene from Goldfinger that finds James Bond strapped to a table with a laser slowly moving his way; Poe's "Pit and the Pendulum," in which a character is saved from the swinging blade by encouraging mice to chew through his ropes; and nearly every episode of the Batman series.
About Northern Stage
Northern Stage has come a long way since Founding Artistic Director Brooke Ciardelli began staging shows in various venues in Burlington, VT in 1992. Since relocating to their new home at the Briggs Opera House in 1997, Northern Stage has offered over 70 productions, including World Premieres such as "The Shrew Tamer," "Ovid: Tales of Myth & Magic" and "A Christmas Carol: The Musical." Other highlights include a staged reading of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" with Patrick Stewart and Lisa Harrow and a reading of "Resurrection Blues," with the playwright, Pulitzer Prize winner Arthur Miller, in attendance. The company has twice been honored with Moss Hart Awards for Excellence in Theater from the New England Theatre Conference, for productions of "To Kill A Mockingbird" (1999) and "All My Sons" (2004), as well as an Addison Award for "The Shrew Tamer" (2004). Most recently, the company toured their acclaimed production of "I Am My Own Wife" to the Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, with upcoming performances in Dublin and Florida. Last summer, Northern Stage collaborated with Dartmouth College on an outdoor production of "The 'O' Myths," featuring international professionals and Dartmouth Students.
Community support has enabled the company to sell over 30,000 tickets in downtown White River Junction each year to enjoy entertaining and thought-provoking professional theater and theater education here at the crossroads of northern New England. They have also reached out to offer residencies and workshops at over a dozen area schools. The company initiated "Project Playwright," a literacy program for fifth and sixth graders, which has resulted in over 750 original plays written by that age group.
For information or tickets, call 802-296-7000, or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The Box Office at the Briggs Opera House is open from 5:30-9 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 1:00-9:00 p.m. on Saturday and 3:00-7:00 p.m. on Sunday during show weeks; tickets for all shows are available by phone or at the Northern Stage administrative office at 28 Gates Street, White River Junction, Monday-Friday from 10 am.-6 p.m. or via the Northern Stage Web site (www.northernstage.org). MasterCard and VISA are accepted.