We know it will happen—after all, the play is called "Deathtrap: A Thriller in Two Acts." What we don't know for the longest time is who'll do it, said director K.O. Ogilvie.
Perfectly timed to coincide with Halloween, the nexStage Theatre will present the Tony-nominated play Thursday, Oct. 30, through Sunday, Nov. 1, and Thursday, Nov. 6, through Sunday, Nov. 9. Each show except Halloween will be at 7 p.m. The show on Friday—Halloween—will start at 6 p.m. so the audience can then head out for Nightmare on Main Street in just the right mood. A special opening night party will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30.
One of the best mysteries ever thrown on a stage was written not in the heyday of straight theater—the mid-1940s to mid '60s—but a mere 30 years ago. Ira Levin's "Deathtrap" went on to set a record as one of the longest-running straight plays on Broadway.
And what a play it is. A once successful playwright, Sydney (Keith Moore) hasn't seen a hit for years. He's desperately in need of a winner. While living in Connecticut with his wife, Myra (Patsy Wygle), he receives a script in the mail from a former student, Clifford (Mackenzie Harbaugh). Could this be the hit he needs and if so, how can he get rid of the playwright and claim it as his own? Unfortunately, living next door is Helga (Jana Arnold), a Dutch mystic with extraordinary powers of extrasensory perception.
The play has to do with things that are seldom what they seem. This is Ogilvie's third directorial stint. She helmed "Laughing Wild" at nexStage two years ago, as well as a staged reading of "Eleemosynary" for Company of Fools.
"There are twists and turns," Ogilvie said. "It's a five-character, comic thriller that is a play within a play."
Indeed, the play is as quirky and surprising as a pomegranate, and everyone is cagey about revealing too much.
"It's very layered," said Harbaugh, who also played a young playwright in a spring production of "Light up the Sky." "There is a certain level of innocence that's fun to play with."
Stage and screen veteran actress Jana Arnold is happy to be back at nexStage. She began her Idaho theater career there several years ago with a Laughing Stock Theatre Co. production of "Rumors," and more recently has been in nearly every Company of Fools production.
"It's great to be back. This is the stage that brought me here," she said. "I'm working with my family. K.O. works very visually. The set is kind of askew, like the play. There is not a character in the show that doesn't surprise me. It's such a pleasure."
Moore agrees, but even he won't give much away.
"This is so well written, so inventive," he said carefully. "A line in the play is, 'Even a gifted director couldn't screw it up,' and it's funny. We've been laughing a lot."
Patsy Wygle, of course, is thrilled to finally be playing the wife of her husband, Keith Moore.
"We're going to make it a tradition to do a thriller during Halloween season each year," she said.
Eeeeekkkkkk!
For tickets call 726-4TKS.
Mackenzie Harbaugh creeps up on his hosts played by Patsy Wygle and Keith Moore in "Deathtrap." Photo by David N. Seelig
