Time Travel Through COMMUNICATING DOORS at Hedgerow Theatre, 9/4-10/5

In Alan Ayckbourn's comic thriller Communicating Doors, which runs at Hedgerow Theatre from September 4 to October 5, the prolific British playwright mixes laughter, suspense and a touch of fantasy as he creates a scenario where it's possible to rewrite history.

The title refers to the portals that connect adjoining rooms, but the London hotel where the play is set has a unique pair. Instead of leading next door, this set transports those who enter backward and forward in time.

Ayckbourn, known for his brilliant plot twists, aptly describes his 46th work as "a sort of Hitchcock version of Back to the Future." As it opens, a dominatrix named Poopay has been called to a suite at the five-star Regal Hotel. She's surprised to learn that her elderly client, Reece, is dying and just wants her to witness his confession that he had hired his business partner, Julian, to kill his two wives. Julian is unfortunately also there and threatens Poopay, who flees through the door to the next suite, only to find that it's occupied by Reece's second wife, Ruella, and it's 20 years earlier. After some initial confusion, the two begin a series of madcap misadventures traveling back and forth through time hoping to prevent the murders from ever happening.

Kyra Baker, making her Hedgerow debut, plays Poopay. Baker has a BA in theater from Temple University, and has performed there, at the Adrienne and in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Also new to the Rose Valley stage is Mary Beth Shrader as Reece's first wife, Jessica. Shrader, a graduate of the University of the Arts, has acted at many local venues.

The rest of the six-member cast are all familiar faces to Hedgerow audiences. Ruella is portrayed by Stacy Skinner, who was last seen as Mrs. Henry Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility. Shaun Yates, who was Major Powell last fall in Corpse! and Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, is Reece. The sinister Julian is played by Brock Vickers, a Hedgerow Acting Fellow who had the role of Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility. Completing the group is veteran actor Zoran Kovcic as the hotel's hapless house detective, Harold.

The play is directed by Rose Valley native Liam Castellan, who also helmed Corpse! and three staged readings of Noel Coward's plays this spring. As an actor at Hedgerow, he played Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility and Etienne in A Flea in Her Ear. The Northwestern University graduate has also directed at many Philadelphia area theatres, including Curio Theatre Company, Plays & Players, and the Philadelphia Dramatists Center. 4 Rose Valley Road in Rose Valley (near Media).

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