Agatha Christie Thriller TOWARD ZERO Comes to Theatre 40

Towards Zero, a mystery thriller is now playing at Theatre 40.

WHO: Adapted for the stage by Agatha Christie and Gerald Verner. Based on the novel by Agatha Christie. Directed by Craig Hissong. Produced for Theatre 40 by David Hunt Stafford.

WHERE: Theatre Forty, 241 S, Moreno Drive, in the Mary Levin Cutler Theatre (same venue, new name), Beverly Hills, CA 90212. The venue is on the campus of Beverly Hills High School. Free parking is available in the parking lot beneath the theatre. To access parking, enter through the driveway at the intersection of Durant and Moreno Drives.

WHEN: September 21- October 22, 2023. Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. Sundays at 2:00 p.m.

When a house party gathers at Gull's Point, the seaside home of Lady Tressilian, Neville Strange finds himself caught between his old wife Audrey and his new flame Kay. A nail-biting thriller, the play probes the psychology of jealousy in the shadow of a savage and brutal murder. Superintendent Battle and his nephew are called in. A carefully unpeeled investigation before our eyes brings the story to a pointed ending.

Agatha Christie and Gerald Verner have adapted Ms. Christie's novel for the stage. Agatha Christie has been acknowledged as one of the greatest mystery novelists of the 20th Century, although she was a prolific playwright as well. Gerald Verner was himself the author of 120 thriller novels, and he also wrote for the stage, screen and television, including the first season of the 1960s TV series The Avengers.

Craig Hissong directs the new production of Towards Zero. Over the past two decades, he has been a director, stage manager, technical director, light board operator, lighting designer, lyricist, actor, producer and teacher. A graduate of Columbia College Chicago, he is currently on staff as a technical director at the Youth Academy of Dramatic Arts and the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre.

Craig's cast for Towards Zero includes John Combs, Katyana Rocker Cook, Christopher Franciosa, Hisato Matsuyama, Michael Mullen, Kristin Towers Rowles, Jeremy Schaye, Michele Schultz, Holly Sidell and David Hunt Stafford.

Set design: Jeff G. Rack. Costume design: Michael Mullen.

A killer is at large. Can you guess whodunit?

Photo Credit: Casey Durkin.