Prince George's Little Theatre Presents THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER

Prince George's Little Theatre will produce the holiday classic "The Man Who Came to Dinner" at the Bowie Playhouse from December 1 to 16. All Friday performances and the Saturday performances December 2 and 9 are at 8 p.m. The Sunday performances on December 3 and 10 and the closing performance on Saturday December 16 are 2 p.m. matinees. The play is directed by Keith Brown and produced by Malia Murray.

Set the late 1930's in Ohio, this scintillating comedy shows what happens in the household of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Stanley (Danny Brooks and Rosalie Daelemans) when a famous guest slips on the ice on their doorstep and breaks his hip. Although the Stanleys were thrilled when the brilliant, witty, and widely beloved Sheridan Whiteside (Mike Dunlop) accepted their invitation to dinner during a speaking tour, they are not so pleased by the chaos that follows his presence as he completely takes control, commandeering the telephone, filling the library with penguins and cockroaches, and inviting a band of paroled convicts over for lunch.

The irascible invalid meddles in the lives of everyone, including the Stanley children. June Stanley (Elizabeth Seaman), is in love with Sandy (Rocky Nunzio), who wants to unionize her father's factory; and Richard Stanley (Matthew Lucente), is eager to leave small town Ohio and begin a career as a photographer. The final Stanley family member is the eccentric, mysterious aunt Harriet (Millie Ferrara) who flits in and out of the living room where Whiteside holds court. He also is a thorn in the side of the town physician Dr. Bradley (Jon Marget), who has written a book he wants Whiteside to read, and the frantic nurse Miss Preen (Robin Schwartz), whose care he continuously thwarts. The Stanley staff John (Jim Berard) and Sarah (Hannah Allen) are also soon ready to fulfill his every whim.

Whiteside is determined to broadcast his Christmas radio special from the Stanley household and invites a large roster of celebrities to join him, along with a host of bizarre guests. He is at first happy to have the attention of the personable young reporter and aspiring playwright Bert Jefferson (Alan Barnett), but tries to interfere when his resourceful assistant Maggie Cutler (Tracy Dye) declares that she is ready to quit her job and marry Jefferson.

Obviously the loss of his faithful and patient assistant will interfere with Whiteside's smoothly running life, so he invites the famous actress and accomplished vamp Lorraine Sheldon (Vanessa Berben) to help Jefferson get his play produced. Seeing Whiteside's devious hand in Lorraine's arrival, Maggie also invites noted British actor and playwright Beverly Carlton (Brook Berry) into the mix to help get rid of her rival. Add in the Marx brother-like Banjo (Brian Binney), and a host of neighbors (Janice Coffey, Ann Lowe-Barrett) and radio technicians (Preston Coleman and Derrick Brown) as well as sundry plainclothes policemen and luncheon guests, and the stage is filled with wild and whacky personalities.

All performances take place at the Bowie Playhouse, 16500 White Marsh Park Drive, Bowie, Maryland. Regular-priced tickets ($22 for adults and $17 for students and seniors) can be purchased at www.pglt.org, by calling (301) 937-7458, or at the box office prior to each performance if tickets are remaining. Groups of ten or more can purchase tickets in advance for $15 a ticket. There are directions to the Playhouse and more details on ticket purchases at PGLT's website: www.pglt.org.

PGLT's season will end with the April 20 to May 12 production of the musical "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels."