PERFECT CRIME Hits 9700 on January 5

The first few weeks of a new year are always bittersweet for the theater community. This January, at least 20 Broadway shows have posted closing notices. But one of New York's greatest curiosities, Warren Manzi's Off Broadway thriller Perfect Crime, heads into 2011 - its 24th year - on the cusp of performance number 10,000. Perfect Crime is the longest-running play in the history of New York theater.

2011 marks another milestone for the Guinness Award-winning Perfect Crime. Its leading lady, Catherine Russell, has still missed only 4 performances (to attend her siblings' weddings) since the play's debut on April 18, 1987. She has not taken a sick day or vacation day in 24 years. Her record has been covered everywhere from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, People magazine, Entertainment Tonight and in a special citation from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The secret to her longevity? A lot of coffee, a Snickers bar every day and the opportunity to do work she loves every day: she has spent over 2 years of her life (19,400 hours) onstage in Perfect Crime kissing, shooting and being slapped by a series of three dashing leading men. Who needs a vacation from a job like that?

Perfect Crime plays at Times Square's Snapple Theater Center, located at 210 West 50th Street at Broadway. The performance schedule is as follows: Mondays at 8, Tuesdays at 8, Wednesdays at 2, Fridays at 8, Saturdays at 2 & 8 and Sundays at 3 & 7:30. Tickets, priced $51 - $61, can be purchased by calling the box office at (212) 921-7862 or visiting Ticketmaster.com.

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