The Mousetrap (1997)

WRITTEN BY: Agatha Christie
PERFORMED AT: Glen Theater, Watkins Glen, NY
PERFORMED ON: September 25 (3 performances)
DIRECTOR: Amnon Kabatchnik
SPONSORED BY: Corning Vintage Theater
CAST:
* MOLLIE RALSTON- Rose Ketchum
* GILES RALSTON- Phil Kruk
* CHRISTOPHER WREN- David Alan Scott Jr.
* MAJOR METCALF- John Rogerson
* MRS. BOYLE- Shelia Burkowski
* MISS CASEWELL- Freyda Black
* PARAVICCINI- Graham Howard
* SERGEANT TROTTER- Jeff DeMeritt

PLOT: A woman is dead, and a murderer is looking for two more victims. Can the detective figure out which of the six people in Monkswell Manor is the killer? A mystery drama, based on a book.

HISTORY: As a reward for a good performance in "Ten Little Indians", I was given another role in a Vintage Theater play, this time as the eccentric Christopher Wren (not to be confused with the famous Brithish architect of the same name).
My best memory of the performances is what happened during the last one. For one of the scenes, I was directed to toss peanuts into my mouth while talking to Rose's character. If one peanut missed my mouth, I would just go on with my lines as I toss some more.
So, here's how the scene played during performance #3: As I begin talking, I toss the first peanut. It misses my mouth. I keep talking. I toss another peanut. This one misses as well. I continue to talk. As I finish my sentence, I toss in a third peanut. The sentence ends, the peanut goes in, and I grin to Rose. The audience, thinking that this "third-time's-the-charm" thing with the peanut was intentional, applauds me.
The most important aspect of this production is that we ended up doing all three performances in one day (which was not the original plan)! The morning show was mainly a private one for nearby students from neighborhood high schools. The afternoon and evening shows were opened to the public.
A fourth show, another student performance scheduled for Friday morning, had to be cancelled at the last minute (Wednesday night) since the associated schools couldn't get the funds to attend.

PHOTOS:
* The entire cast, during a rehearsal (photo by Nancy MacCaig)
* Phil Kruk, John Rogerson, and me, during a rehearsal (photo by Nancy MacCaig)