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Wright State Theatre opens their 2022-23 Season with Agatha Christie’s iconic murder mystery, The Mousetrap. This classic “Whodunnit” runs in Wright State University’s Festival Playhouse from Sept. 23 to Oct. 2. Agatha Christie, the undisputed Queen of the Mystery Genre has crafted a suspense thriller with a surprise twist ending – so please keep the secret! The Mousetrap is the first stage production of Wright State University’s new School of Fine and Performing Arts. 

Kathryn Carter and Theo Karras

Perhaps best known for her novels, Christie wrote more than twenty plays, including three in the 1950s that made her the first female playwright to have three productions running simultaneously in London’s West End. The Mousetrap has gone on to become the longest running play in Theatre history, with 72 years (and counting) in that original production, which is still running in London. This production of The Mousetrap will be the first time Wright State has producing one of Christie’s plays since 1977. This sumptuous production is guaranteed to please avid lovers of mystery stories, from Clue to Knives Out to every television detective series you’ve seen.

Director Jason Podplesky says, “We love being scared! There’s something about these murder mysteries that appeals to our sense of fear. They allow us to deal with these scary things from a safe aesthetic distance. The Mousetrap is really well done; it keeps you intrigued and keeps you on the edge of your seats until the very end. It’s the stuff of legends. There’s also humor in this; a British drawing room comedy sense about it. Comedy and suspense go together like chocolate and peanut butter, don’t they? It’s sort of the one way you can break that tension so you don’t have to have one continuous arc of tension all the way through the play. The Mousetrap sets the formula for all other murder mysteries. It all seems to be right. You get this room of really strange, eccentric characters that seem so disparate from one another. There’s always one with a crazy accent and there’s a dark gloomy one and a proper British one and they come from all parts of the world. And, for whatever reason, they get trapped on a boat, a train or, in this case a Manor house. And then through the play she reveals that, hey they’re not so distant strangers at all. And then there’s always that great scene at the end where the detective unravels all the clues in a beautiful climax. I defy anyone who’s not seen this before to come and pick out the murderer before Christie decides to reveal it to you.” Podplesky will step back into the mystery realm with the Human Race Theatre Company’s upcoming production of Deadline.

Ben Smallwood and Theo Karras

Directed by Cincinnati-based director and actor, Jason Podplesky, The Mousetrap has Scenic Design by guest artist Dick Block (Assoc. Head of Drama, Carnegie Mellon University), Lighting Design by Wright State Professor Matthew Benjamin, costumes by Senior Costume Design student Carrie Wieland, Sound Design by James Dunlap and Properties by John Lavarnway. It is Stage Managed by guest artist Kelly DeLisle. 

Dayton Performing Arts Alliance presents Havana Nights, featuring soprano Camille Zamora, Latin jazz ensemble THE MAMBO KINGS, with the Dayton Philharmonic as part of the SuperPops Series, Friday, Sept. 30, and Saturday, Oct. 1, at 7:30 pm in the Mead Theater of the Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center.

Maestro Neal Gittleman and the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra welcome star soprano Camille Zamora and critically acclaimed jazz ensemble MAMBO KINGS to the Schuster Center stage for a sultry, passionate, and exciting evening of Latin music from Spain and the island of Cuba. Zamora is hailed as a leading interpreter of classical Spanish songs by NBC Latino. MAMBO KINGS has rapidly earned a national reputation for its explosive blend of Afro-Cuban rhythms and jazz improvisation. The program includes orchestral and vocal selections from the classical Spanish Zarzuela period combined with the exciting Afro-Cuban rhythms of the Mambo Kings.

Tickets start at $5 and are on sale now by phone at 937.228.3630, online at  daytonperformingarts.org/tickets, or in person at the Box Office in the Wintergarden of the Schuster Center downtown Dayton.

For more information about the Havana Nights performances, set list, and a digital program, visit daytonperformingarts.org/havananights.

For more information about DPAA’s 2022-23 Ballet, Opera, and Philharmonic seasons, visit:daytonperformingarts.org