Community Theater in Falls Church, VA
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“Nothing is as it seems” – Tony Award Winning Mystery
Connection Newspapers: “Traps and Mystery Galore”: http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2012/may/10/traps-and-mystery-galore-sleuth-arrives/
The Providence Players close their fourteenth season with the Tony Award winning mystery Sleuth.
Written by Anthony Shaffer, Sleuth is the quintessential “whodunit” classic which one critic called just “clean and bloody fun.” Popular mystery writer Andrew Wyke lives in a world that reflects his obsession with games and game-playing – a world of plot twists and intricate strategies. In discovering his wife’s lover, Milo Tindle, Andrew devises a devious game to humiliate him. But even the best laid plans can go astray when the police arrive and a new game begins – a game where revenge is devised and murder is plotted. The ultimate game of cat-and-mouse that will keep you guessing when imagination ends and reality begins – a tremendous mystery thriller.
Winner of the 1971 Tony Award and DramaCritics Circle Award for Best Play.
Performance Dates and Times
Thursday, Friday and Saturday 7:30 p.m. May 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 31, June 1 & 2
Sunday Matinees 2:00 p.m. May 20 & 27
Tickets are $18 for adults and $15 for seniors and youth. Tickets may ordered online at www.providenceplayers.org, by email at providenceplayerstickets@cox.net or by calling the Providence Players Ticket line at 703-425-6782 and leaving a message. Tickets will also be available at the door. The James Lee Community Center is located at 2855 Annandale Road, Fall Church, VA 22042.
The Providence Players production of Sleuth is directed by PPF veteran Director, Beth Hughes-Brown (Play On!, Moon Over Buffalo, Witness for the Prosecution, Cash on Delivery, The Skin of Our Teeth, Arsenic and Old Lace) The production features an outstanding cast;
Andrew Wyke: Mike Donahue
Milo Tindle: Derek Bradley
Inspector Doppler: Frank Gilles
Constable Higgs: Raymond Janer
Det. Sergeant Tarrant: Michael McGinty
MD Theatre Guide’s Erica Shadowsong on PPF’s Side Man: “From the venue to the characters, Side Man is a collaborative masterpiece that brilliantly exhibits the essence of all that community theater can be… The actors were masterful in each of their roles. The characters come to life with such vivid individuality that you come away feeling as if you know each of them, somehow, in your own memories….Certainly, at every turn, the story is heart-breaking, but also utterly hilarious. What will speak to audiences is the incredibly well-captured individuality of the musicians, Terry, and Patsy…”
Read The Full Review: http://mdtheatreguide.com/2012/04/side-man-at-providence-players/
DC Metro Theater Arts’ Mike Spain on PPF’s Side Man: “The Providence Players can ‘toot their own horn’ with their beautifully acted production of Side Man…it’s powerful and blunt. Warren Leight’s Side Man is so well written, so it’s easy to see how it won a Tony Award for Best Play and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize….Director Jimmy Gertzog receives fine performance from his solid cast. Andra Whitt gives a multi-layered performance and is the star of this production…She was so perfect in the role that you could feel her pain…Ari Post is perfectly cast as Clifford… Bobby Welsh (Jonesy) turns in a memorable performance as the addicted musician. His prison scene is unforgettable…”
Read The Full Review: http://www.dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2012/03/26/side-man-at-the-providence-players-of-fairfax-by-mike-spain1/
Read The Full Review: http://www.showbizradio.net/2012/03/26/review-pp-side-man/
Winner of the 1999 Tony Award for Best Play and a Pulitzer Prize nominee. After writing Side Man, Warren Leight garnered the Oppenheimer Award for Best New American Playwright. This production is not for young audiences. It contains mature themes and significant graphic language. Non-tobacco cigarettes used throughout performance.
“Side Man…is an elegy for two things – a lost world and a lost love. When the two notes sound together in harmony, it is moving and graceful.” – New York Daily News
The Providence Players continue their fourteenth season with Warren Leight’s Tony Award winning drama Side Man. Side Man captures the pulse and climate of the New York Jazz scene from 1953 to 1985. The story is told through the eyes of Clifford, son of a Jazz side man, and is a story of family struggles, recovery, and redemption in the waning years of the Jazz genre. Laced with humor, sharp dialogue, authentic characters, and underscored with the music of the era, Side Man has been beautifully staged and directed by Jimmy Gertzog in his directorial debut for the Providence Players.
Read About Director Jimmy Gertzog and the PPF Side Man Production in the Falls Church News Press: http://www.fcnp.com/arts/11420-gertzog-debuts-as-director-with-providence-players-side-man.html
The production features an outstanding ensemble cast of Players’ regulars and talented newcomers, Ari Post, Andra Whitt, John Coscia, Craig Geoffrion, David James, Bobby Welsh and Christina Thronson and is supported by a talented design team that helps bring this important, moving, and inventively staged piece of contemporary American theater to life.
FINAL THREE PERFORMANCES:
Thursday, Friday and Saturday 7:30 p.m. Apr. 5, 6, 7
Tickets are $18 for adults and $15 for seniors and youth. Tickets may ordered online at www.providenceplayers.org, by email at providenceplayerstickets@cox.net or by calling the Providence Players Ticket line at 703-425-6782 and leaving a message. Tickets will also be available at the door.
Performed at The James Lee Community Center Theater located at 2855 Annandale Road, Fall Church, VA 22042.
As a way of nurturing future theater artists and recognizing the contribution graduating high school seniors have made to the arts community in our region, PPF established a scholarship program that provides scholarships to college-bound students from area high schools. Scholarships are limited each year.
PPF is pleased to offer scholarships to graduating seniors from the PPF community with a demonstrated commitment to theater arts who show strong potential for further contributions to theater arts.
Three scholarships, each of $1500, will be available to 2012 graduating seniors with a demonstrated commitment to theater arts who have been accepted to a U.S. accredited college or university or conservatory program with an intent to further contribute to theater arts. Eligible graduating seniors must (1) reside within the school boundaries of Annandale, Fairfax, Falls Church, George Mason, J.E.B. Stuart, Marshall, Woodson or Yorktown high schools OR (2) have been a member of PPF for at least one year.
The Scholarship Application Form is available online. Additional information is available on our Community Resources page. Applications must be completed and emailed to providenceplayers@cox.net no later than April 30, 2012. Supplementary materials, including letters of recommendation, listed on the application form must be mailed to PPF at the address shown on the application. PPF must receive these supplementary materials by April 30, 2012.
Applications will be reviewed by a committee appointed by PPF. The committee will consist of community representatives, including members of the arts community. The criteria for the awards shall be as follows:
Decisions on the scholarship awards will be announced by June 1, 2012.
Director Beth Hughes-Brown is proud to announce the cast for Sleuth, PPF’s final production of the 2011-2012 season:
Andrew Wyke: Mike Donahue
Milo Tindle: Derek Bradley
Inspector Doppler: Frank Gilles
Constable Higgs: Raymond Janer
Det. Sergeant Tarrant: Michael McGinty
More information about Sleuth can be found at our current season page. Thanks to all who came out and shared their talent in the audition process.
This past season’s PPF production of “The Shadow Box” has been honored by the British Players’ Ruby Griffith Awards program with the 2010-2011 award for “Outstanding Achievement in a Play”. The Ruby Griffith Awards, designed to elevate the quality of local amateur theater and reward excellence and outstanding achievement, was established in 1969 and is the DC area’s oldest community theater awards program.
“The Shadow Box” was selected for best play honors from a field of 25 productions offered for adjudication by community theater companies throughout the VA-MD-DC area. Shadow Box Director Barbara Gertzog accepted the award on behalf of PPF at an awards ceremony this past July.
Congratulations the entire cast and crew of “The Shadow Box” for their outstanding achievement in this production!
For more information on The Ruby Griffith Awards visit the awards website.
To see all of PPF’s recent nominations and awards, visit our awards page.
By Anthony Shaffer
Directed by Beth Hughes-Brown
Providence Players announces auditions for its final production of the 2011-2012 season.
Audition Dates
Monday January 9, 7-9:30pm
Tuesday January 10, 7-9:30pm
Call-Backs: Thursday January 12, 7-9:30pm
Location
The James Lee Community Center Theater
2855 Annandale Road
Falls Church, VA 22042
Performance and Rehearsal Info
Performances: Friday and Saturday 7:30 p.m. – May 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 31, June 1 & 2; Sunday Matinees 2:00 p.m. May 20 & 27; Preview: Thursday, May 17
Rehearsals will begin in mid-April, although a few will be scheduled prior to that date on days that accommodate the actors’ schedules.
MORE INFO FROM DIRECTOR, BETH HUGHES-BROWN
PARTIAL SYNOPSIS:
The play is set in Andrew Wyke’s living room in his large Norman Manor House in Wiltshire. The play opens with Andrew Wyke reading the final pages of his latest detective story. The doorbell rings and Andrew welcomes in Milo Tindle, a young travel agent who has come at the request of Wyke. They chat for a while–mostly Wyke asking Milo questions of his background, work, etc.
ANDREW: “I understand you want to marry my wife.”
Milo, taken aback by the directness of the question confirms that he does. He tells him that they intend to live together. He goes on to tell Wyke that he and Marguerite know that he has a mistress.
Wyke tells Milo that he is welcome to Marguerite but informs him that she would be expensive to keep. Could he keep her in the lifestyle to which she has been accustomed with him? Can he afford to keep her? Milo explains that their relationship is based on love, and that once she’s left him she’ll be happy. He tells him that he can look after her.
ANDREW: “I see. You mean as soon as you and she are married Marguerite will joyously exchange Cartiers for the Co-Op?”
Wyke tells Milo that Marguerite will ruin him. Therefore he has invited Milo over to discuss a way which will help him out. He tells him that he bought Marguerite a considerable amount of jewelry. In fact it was really a tax avoidance purchase and the jewelry (with receipts) really belong to him. He would allow Marguerite to wear it occasionally.
ANDREW: “I want you to steal that jewelry.”
Milo is intrigued. Wyke tells him that he should steal the jewelry that night while Marguerite is away. He can then sell the jewelry to a fence (one known and arranged by Wyke) and live happily ever after with Marguerite and the money. Wyke can then claim on the insurance and then settle down with his mistress.
Milo isn’t convinced and questions Wyke’s knowledge of committing crimes. Wyke reminds him that he is an author of great detective stories and his detective St. John Lord Merridew is one of the greatest of them all. Milo disagrees.
MILO: “Oh yes the police are always stupid in your kind of story, aren’t they? They never solve anything. Only an amateur sleuth ever knows what’s happening. But that is detective fiction. This is fact.”
Wyke reminds him of the money and eventually convinces him it will work. Milo agrees to steal the jewels from the safe which is under the stairs. Wyke explains that they will make it look like a burglary but first though, Milo must dress up in a disguise to avoid leaving any clues. He pulls out a large basket and pulls out various costumes for Milo.
MILO: “Haven’t you just got an old pair of wellies, a raincoat and a sock I can pull over my head?”
…And on it goes. There are many surprises and twists.
AUDITIONS:
Auditions will also consist of cold readings from the script. No roles are pre-cast. The James Lee Community Center Theater is located at 2855 Annandale Road, Falls Church VA 22042.
CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS (2M):
The cast age requirements are somewhat flexible. Men of all ages are encouraged to audition.
Andrew Wyke is “…a strongly built, tall, fleshy man of 57, gone slightly to seed. His fair hair carries on it the suspicion that chemical aid has been involved to keep the grey at bay. His face, sourly amused and shadowed with evaded self-knowledge, is beginning to reflect the absence of constant, arduous employment.” Andrew is an immensely successful mystery writer. His home reflects his obsession with the inventions and deceptions of fiction and his fascination with games and game-playing. He lures his wife’s lover, Milo Tindle, to the house and convinces him to stage a robbery of her jewelry, a proposal that sets off a chain of events that leaves the audience trying to decipher reality.
Milo Tindle is “…about 35, slim, dark-haired, and of medium height. He has a sharp, sallow face alive with a slightly Mediterranean wariness. Everything about him is neat from his exactly parted hair to the squared off white handkerchief in the breast pocket of his blue mohair suit.” Milo has to also convincingly disguise his voice and mannerisms in order to play characters Inspector Doppler, Police Constable Higgs, and Detective Sergeant Tarrant. He comes into Andrew Wyke’s life because he is having an affair with Wyke’s wife, Marguerite. Milo, who is younger than Wyke, is ensconced in the romance of his affair.
Both actors have to be able to learn a lot of lines, and work a lot of sub-text moments. They must therefore be comfortable with silence. British accents are desired.
Ages are approximate, but the actors who play these characters must be able to pass for the approximate ages. The portions of the characters that come directly from the author are in quotes.