THE MOUSETRAP Up Next at McCarter Theatre Center

Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap is a master class in murder/mystery. Called "The cleverest murder mystery of British theatre" by The Daily Telegraph, the world's longest-running play (currently in its 64rd season on the West End) contains all the trimmings and trappings of the perfect stage thriller.

Set in the English countryside, The Mousetrap introduces a collection of strangers stranded at a manor house during a horrendous snowstorm. To make matters worse, the group soon discovers a murderer may be among them.

So who's the killer? Could it be one of the newlyweds (Adam Green and Jessica Bedford) whose rampant suspicions nearly wreck their marriage? Maybe it's the spinster with the curious background (Sandra Shipley). It could be the off-kilter architect (Andy Phelan), the straight-laced retired Army Major (Graeme Malcolm), the mysterious woman (Emily Young), or maybe the odd little man who appears at the door unannounced (Thom Sesma). With a suspicious Detective on the case (Richard Gallagher), The Mousetrap hurtles to an exciting conclusion with numerous twists and surprises. Take your best guess, but whatever you do don't spoil the ending...

The Mousetrap is directed by Adam Immerwahr (The Understudy) and boasts a design team consisting of scenic designer Alexander Dodge (A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder), costume designer Jess Goldstein and lighting designer Philip Rosenberg (both recently at McCarter for Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery), and sound designer Nick Kourtides (The Understudy).

Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is the author not only of The Mousetrap, the longest running stage production in history, but also Witness for the Prosecution and And Then There Were None to name but a few of her greatest stage successes. Her novels have sold more than two billion copies around the world and she is only outsold by the Bible and Shakespeare. Born in 1890, in Torquay, Devon, England, to an American father and English mother, she wrote her first play Black Coffee (the only play in which she chose to feature Poirot) in 1930 having been disappointed by the way The Murder of Roger Ackroyd had been adapted into Alibi in 1928. She adapted her bestselling novel And Then There Were None for the stage in 1943, giving it a different ending, followed by, in quick succession, Appointment with Death (1945), Murder on the Nile (1946), and The Hollow (1951). With The Mousetrap (1952), Witness for the Prosecution (1953), and Spider's Web (1954), she became the only female playwright to have three plays running in the West End at the same time. Later plays include Towards Zero (1956) co-adapted with Gerald Verner, Verdict (1958) possibly her most unusual play, Go Back for Murder (1960), and Rule of Three (1962) a series of three one act plays. After a hugely successful career and a wonderful life, Ms. Christie died peacefully on 12 January 1976. You can read Agatha Christie's own account of her life in An Autobiography which was published after her death in 1977.

Adam Immerwahr (Director) is the Artistic Director of Theater J, the nation's largest and most prominent Jewish Theater (located in Washington D.C.). Adam has served as Associate Artistic Director at McCarter and Resident Director at Passage Theater. NYC directing credits include The Public, Theater Row (both for Summer Play Festival), Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Wild Project, and NYU's Studio Tisch. Internationally, he directed the African premiere of The Convert (Zimbabwe, nominated for the National Arts Medal Award). He has directed and developed work for McCarter, Luna Stage, Hangar Theatre, Bristol Riverside, Premiere Stages, PlayPenn, Philadelphia Artists' Collective, Theatre Masters. Winner of 2010 NJ Theatre Alliance "Applause Award" and 2014 Emerging Nonprofit Leader Award presented by Fairleigh Dickinson University's Center for Excellence. Drama League Directing Fellow (2008).

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