Kate Hamill, Jason O'Connell And More Star In THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG At Syracuse Stage

A talented cast including Kate Hamill and Jason O'Connell touches off cascades of comedy as Syracuse Stage presents "The Play That Goes Wrong" April 13 - May 1. Tickets are on sale now at www.syracusestage.org or 315-443-3275.

Since its premiere in 2012, this popular play-within-a play farce has delighted audiences in 35 countries world-wide. It is currently running off-Broadway, in London's West End, and on a national tour. Syracuse Stage is among the first regional theaters to mount its own production with Artistic Director Robert Hupp at the helm as the show's director.

Hamill and O'Connell have appeared numerous times at Syracuse Stage in the past few seasons. They first worked together at Stage in Hamill's adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice" (2019), which O'Connell directed and in which Hamill played two roles. Hamill also appeared in "Noises Off" (2018) and they appeared together in the on-line only "Talley's Folly" (2020).

In addition, O'Connell had the distinction of appearing in Stage's final pre-Covid live production, as Salieri in "Amadeus," and also in the first return to live performance production, as Don in this season's opener "Eureka Day."

Other cast members, too, will be familiar. "The Play That Goes Wrong" marks the fifth appearance at Stage for Seth Andrew Bridges. Bridges previously appeared in "Great Expectations" (2016), "The Three Musketeers" (2017), "Noises Off" (2018)-he took the nosedive down the stairs-and most recently in "12 Angry Men" (2019) as the foreman of the jury. Blake Segal makes his fourth appearance having recently been seen in "Matilda the Musical" and previously in "Amadeus" and "Noises Off."

Angie Janas played Lizzy Bennet in "Pride and Prejudice" and Rishan Dhamija was Raj in this season's production of "Yoga Play." While Shabazz Green and John Tufts are new to Stage, each has substantial New York and regional theater credits.

"Pulling off the comic and physical hijinks of 'The Play That Goes Wrong' requires a special kind of actor and I am fortunate to work with a dream cast on this production," said Hupp. "Their inventiveness and creativity enhance every rehearsal and their love for the work shines through in every performance."

"The Play That Goes Wrong" is built on fast-paced physical comedy as the members of the Cornley Drama Society attempt to perform a 1920s murder mystery only to have it all go horribly and hilariously wrong. Lines are lost, corpses won't stay put and the set is a clockwork of malfunction. Another Stage veteran, Czerton Lim ("Matilda the Musical," "Talley's Folly," "Disney's Beauty and the Beast" and "Elf the Musical") designed "The Play That Goes Wrong" set and worked with technical director Randall Steffen and props designer Mara Rich to create a self-destructing Haversham Manor for the cast.

"Our approach to this design was to treat the set itself as a living, breathing character with-filled with its own distinct personality, contradictions, eccentricities and 'human' foibles, trying to do its best with the situation it finds itself with the actors onstage," Lim said. "In fact, I believe the set 'thinks' it is the actors onstage mucking things up badly, while also finding itself guilty of the occasional attention-grabbing stunt to garner the audiences' favor and applause."

Costume designer Suzanne Chesney, lighting designer Matt Webb and sound designer Jacqueline R. Herter complete the creative team, and fight choreographer Christopher DuVal sets the stunts and physical work.

With warm weather returning and days growing noticeably longer, "The Play That Goes Wrong" is a great opportunity to get out and simply have some fun. It is laughter for the sheer joy of laughter.

"Since I saw this play on Broadway five years ago, I knew I wanted it to be part of a Syracuse Stage season," added Hupp. "Sometimes the cure for what ails us is just a fun night out full of laughter and silliness, and in that world, 'The Play That Goes Wrong' delivers like no other play I've seen."

Masks are required at all times by everyone regardless of vaccination status, except while eating or drinking in designated areas. Food and drink will not be permitted in the auditorium. Syracuse Stage will no longer check for vaccination or negative test status.