First Look at PlayMakers Repertory Company's MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

The train is pulling into the station as PlayMakers Repertory Company opens its production of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express adapted for the stage by Ken Ludwig.

Check out a first look at the production below!

A stylish whodunit, this year marks the 90th anniversary of the publication of Agatha Christie’s classic book. Resident Dramaturg Gregory Kable says it is just as entertaining now as it was when it was first published.

“We can only speculate on how Christie would perceive our contemporary obsession with true crime and violence and their cultural proliferation in mass entertainment from movies to television to podcasts,” writes PlayMakers’ Resident Dramaturg Gregory Kable. “What we can confidently assess for ourselves, though, is the Christie legacy in this latest incarnation of one of her best-known works.”

The PlayMakers’ production is directed by Tracy Bersley and stars veteran resident company member Jeffrey Blair Cornell (Much Ado About Nothing, PlayMakers) as Hercule Poirot.

Joining Cornell are Hope Alexander (As You Like It, PlayMakers), Jim Roof (Wit, The Alliance), Julia Gibson, (Misery, PlayMakers), Jeffrey Meanza (Hamlet, PlayMakers), and Gwendolyn Schwinke (Much Ado About Nothing, PlayMakers), They are joined by Saleemah Sharpe (The Legend of Georgia McBride, PlayMakers), Hayley Cartee (Much Ado About Nothing, PlayMakers) and Adam Valentine (The Legend of Georgia McBride, PlayMakers). First-year UNC’s Professional Actor Training Program students Reez Bailey and Matthew Donahue complete the company.

The creative team includes Tony Cisek (Scenic Designer), Marcella Barbeau (Lighting), and Michael Keck (Sound), all of whom are making their PlayMakers’ debut. Anne Kennedy (A Wrinkle in Time, PlayMakers) is designing the costume. UNC’s Department of Dramatic Art Alumna Katie Cunningham will serve as Vocal Coach.

The PlayMakers Repertory Company production of Murder on the Orient Express opens Saturday, March 9, and runs through March 24. For information and to purchase tickets, call 919.962.7529 or visit the button below.

Performance and Special Event Schedule:    

March 6 - 8 — Preview performances 

March 9 — Opening Performance & Press Opening 

March 10 — Share the Show: Childcare Available 

March 17 — Open Captioned Performance and Post-Show Discussion   

March 19 — ASL Interpretation / Audio Description

About PlayMakers Repertory Company

PlayMakers Repertory Company is North Carolina’s premier professional theatre company. For more than 45 years, we have produced relevant and courageous work that tells stories from and for a multiplicity of perspectives and creates transformational impact in our immediate and extended communities. We are proud to be part of a 100-year tradition of playmaking at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. PlayMakers has been named one of the “best regional theatres in America.”  

 

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