Parkway central high school theatre department
Proudly presents
Agatha Christie’s
The Mousetrap
Produced with a special agreement
With Samuel FrenchInc.
ATTENTION
For your safety,
Please remain seated once the show begins.
Late comers will be seated at the House Managers discretion.
Please keep the aisles clear of all personal items.
In an emergency, exits are located in the rear and side of the theatre.
Please turn ALL electronic devices OFF.
Due to COPY RIGHT LAWS…
NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY OR
VIDEOGRAPHY IS ALLOWED.
Concessions and CD of production pictures
will be sold during intermission.
Proceeds will benefit the PCH Theater Parents.
THANK YOU,
The Management
PCH Theatre Parents
The PCH Parents were founded during the 1996-1997 school year. The goals of this organization are to support the students activity in drama and educational theatre, to have representation on the PTO Board, to award scholarships to seniors, to increase attendance at productions, and, finally, to financially support the PCH TheatreDept. by purchasing needed equipment materials.
Without parent membership and volunteers at all levels, those gifts would not be possible. If you are nota member, please consider doing so by contacting one of the Co-Chair Theatre Parents. Thank you to allpresent members and to all volunteers for making this show and many others a success!!!!
Janis Greenbaum, Co-Chair
Doris McCarter, Co-Chair
2009-2010
Season Subscribers
A theatre subscriber is one who continually supports our goal of achieving excellence in educational theatre.Without the generous support we receive from parents and patrons of the arts, our theatre departmentwould not thrive as it does today. Thank you to the following for your never-ending encouragement ofthe fine arts in our schools!
ProducerDirector Sponsors
John & RebeccaSylva and Stuart ManewithGail & Hershey
DavidsonKim WeaverFeldstein
The McKenna FamilyJohn & Jane Strauss
The Levine Family
Scott & Robyn Folsom
THANK YOU!
The following people and organizations have contributed in making tonight’s performance a success.
Thank you for your donations and generosity to the PCH Theatre Department.
Matt and Tim Forbis
Wendy Greenwood; SIUE Theatre Department
Pfizenmaier Family
Schechter Family
West Theatre Department, especially Amie Kirn Gossett
PCH Music Department
PCH Theatre Parents
SPECIAL THANK YOU TO…
PCH faculty, staff and Administration
Mr. Tim Gannon, Mr. Mike Roth, and Dr. Travis Fast
Our families, who we love so much:
Scott, Danielle, and Zachary Voss
Amelia Forbis
Beth, Izzy, and Andrew Kohlberg
Please accept our sincerest apologies if anyone was omitted form this list.
Can you find other Works
by Agatha Christie?
P O M M O T X H E I S H G F M F P A T T K I H S K
T A Y X X T E A N I S S Z Y H I A A I H Q E Z K Q
R D C L E G A Z N J E I E A G P G U F E Q H R R R
H T P J K Y G T E W R C R O O U S E V Y Z B Y E L
G V H E N F V F R C P K R C R N D P W C M Y L H F
W P L E J W I J L D X I K B W O U R J A P T V B K
A C F I M D F Q A V E E K O W I Y F D M R T G V P
J O T K J U Q M G V T P R X K M L Y T E H V U O Y
V E N Z F X R Z X F N B T T M Q W L N T J N E N H
K X E W H N W D U L E S Q O Q S O W W O W W Y V Q
P V D X N H G L E H I B R A L B N F F B P K O U M
Z B T O J O L J T R R N N E I T K P T A P Z V L R
K B T A B O F N A D O A N T D N J C K G M V A Z B
V J H H F Q I O D W E N W B B R U E I H Z I E V L
K Q L R T N C Z H V H J T Z I S U Y S D T Y Y S E
Q A H L A N I H B P T J J H I O Q M P A U Z E O F
V Y L M W L B L D C N X M H E A I Y C D A P M I R
E S E P E K S U F W O X T X A L Z K O B O Y V P W
D H A U A S Z F E H R O R J H U I J P A A T J Z C
T A N D T H E N T H E R E W E R E N O N E E E G B
W Z U V N J Y T T B D B E O W G Y I K K F L H E F
B N M V P Z W L V J R A R M M E M F A S U O P T L
D S P B P U L Q U N U E L I N E H T N O H T A E D
J R K X A S R Q C Z M D C S M Z Q E I W Z I E P E
U H F U U X S H K W O Z Z I Z Q P X X A F B X A N
AND THEN THERE WERE NONEA POCKET FULL OF RYE
DEATH ON THE NILETHE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESSTHE ABC MURDERS
THE MURDER ON THE LINKSTHEY CAME TO BAGHDAD
Answers found in the back of the program.
SYNOPISIS OF SCENES
Time: 1948
Place: The Great Hall at Monkswell Manor, England
ACT I
Scene One-Late afternoon
Scene Two- The following day after lunch
ACT II
Ten minutes later
CAST
(In order of appearance)
Emma Rechenberg……………………………………………………………………………………..Mollie Ralston
David Schneider*……………………………………………………………………………………..….Giles Ralston
Michael Price……………………………………………………………………………………..…Christopher Wren
Katy Strutz……………………………………………………………………………………………………Mrs. Boyle
Tyler Adelstein……………………………………………………………………………………………Major Metcalf
Ann Pfizenmaier…………………...……………………………………………………………… …...Miss Casewell
Alex Tash…………………………………………………………………………………………………Mr. Paravicini
Joseph Dardick………………………………………………………………………………… ……Sergeant Trotter
*Indicates member of I.T.S. (International Thespian Society) Drama Honor Society
DIRECTORS NOTE
We are pleased to present the world’s longest-running stage production, THE MOUSETRAP. Now in its 58th year, THE MOUSETRAP has been thrilling audiences from around the world. With more than 23,000 performances, it’s clear that this playcontinues to deliver a great whodunit story. Parkway Central Theatre Department is proud to present this great piece of theatrical history to you, written by one of the greatest crime writers of all time, Agatha Christie. So sit back, relax (if you can) and enjoy! As always, thank you for supporting the PCH Theatre Department and educational theatre!
Theatre is a TRADITION at PCH
Selected highlights from 1953-1989
Cheaper By the DozenThe Curious Savage
GreaseWest Side Story
The Man Who Came To DinnerCharlie’s Aunt
Charlie BrownRobin Hood
Lil’ AbnerThe Night of January 16th
Fiddler onthe Roof Winnie the Pooh
The Odd CoupleSee How They Run
The Music ManExit the Body
1989-19901996-19972003-2004
CinderellaYou Can’t Take It With You Lend Me A Tenor
Romeo and JulietSouth Pacific Bus Stop
The Diviners
1990-19912004-2005
Anything Goes1997-1998 The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940
Harvey Harvey The Crucible West Side Story
1991-1992
Alice in Wonderland1998-19992005-2006
The Pirates of PenzanceLaughter On The 23rd Floor
1992-1993 The Grapes of Wrath To Kill A Mockingbird
The Wizard of Oz
Oklahoma 1999-20002006-2007
Noises Off See How They Run
1993-1994 The Miracle WorkerThoroughly Modern Millie
Tom Sawyer
2000-20012007-2008
1994-1995Brighton Beach Memoirs Moon Over Buffalo
Sleeping Beauty A Little Night Music Death of A Salesman
Guys and Dolls
2001-20022008-2009
1995-1996 The Man Who Came To Dinner The Elephant Man
The HobbitOklahoma!
A Time To Play2002-2003
The House of Blue Leaves2009-2010
Anything Goes The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
The Mousetrap
20 Facts about Agatha Christie
- 2010 marks the 120th anniversary of Agatha Christie's birth in 1890.
- The Mousetrap, which started as a 20 minute radio play broadcasted on 30 May 1947 called Three Blind Mice in honor of Queen Mary, is the longest running show of any type of the modern era.
- During this phenomenal run there have been no fewer than 382 actors and actresses appearing in the play, 116 miles of shirts have been ironed and over 415 tons of ice cream sold.
- Dubbed the 'Queen of Crime,' Christie has been translated into over forty different languages and has only been outsold by Shakespeare and the Bible, making her the best-selling author of all time.
- She is the only female dramatist to have had 3 plays running simultaneously in London’s West End.
- When one of her most popular characters, Hercule Poirot, died, he was given a full-page obituary in The New York Times.
- She was a teetotaler (nondrinker) and non-smoker.
- Her career spanned over half a century in which time she released over eighty novels and short story collections, as well as a handful of romance, non-fiction titles and an autobiography.
- On the day she died the West End theatres dimmed their lights for one hour.
- By the age of five Agatha already taught herself to read.
- The suggestion to call it TheMousetrap came from Christie's son-in-law, Anthony Hicks. In Shakespeare's play Hamlet, "The Mousetrap" is Hamlet's answer to Claudius's inquiry about the name of the play whose prologue and first scene the court has just observed (III, ii). The play is actually The Murder of Gonzago, but Hamlet answers metaphorically, since "The play's the thing" in which he intends to "Catch the conscience of the king."
- Outside of the West End, only one version of the play can be performed annually and under the contract terms of the play, no film adaptation can be produced until the West End production has been closed for at least six months.
- The London West End cast of The Mousetrap changes annually, occurring around late November around the anniversary of the play's opening. There is a tradition of the retiring leading lady and the new leading lady cutting a Mousetrap cake together.
- The play has made theatrical history by having an original cast member survive all the cast changes since its opening night. The late Deryck Guyler can still be heard, via a recording, reading the radio news bulletin in the play to this present day. The set has been changed in 1965 and 1999, but one prop survives from the original opening – the clock which sits on the mantelpiece of the fire in the main hall.
- By tradition, at the end of each performance, audiences are asked not to reveal the identity of the killer to anyone outside the theatre, to ensure that the end of the play isn't spoiled for future audiences.
- Some cast members of The Mousetrap are in the Guinness Book of Records, David Raven as the 'Most Durable Actor' for 4575 performances as Major Metcalf, and the late Nancy Seabrooke for a record breaking 15 years as an understudy.
- During the WWI, Agatha worked as a nurse at TorquayTown Hall, where she acquired her knowledge of poisons – crucial in many of her books.
- During summer evenings with her family, Christie would read aloud from her latest novel, to be published in time for the coming Christmas, while the family tried to guess who the murderer was. Invariably her husband Max would guess correctly.
- She made notes in dozens of notebooks, jotting down ideas and potential plots and characters as they came to her. Christie spent her time working out all the details and clues in her head before putting pen to paper. “Plots come to me at such odd moments, when I am walking along the street, or examining a hat shop… suddenly a splendid idea comes into my head.”
- She accepted the nomination for Presidency of the famous Detection Club in 1958 on the strict understanding that she would never have to make a speech.
PRODUCTION STAFF
Director…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Nicole Voss
Technical Director…………………………………………………………………………………..… Peter Kohlberg
Assistant Scenic Designers...... Matt Forbis
Tim Forbis
PRODUCTION TEAM
Production Stage Manager………………………………………………………………………….... Maddie Frank*
Company Stage Manager…………………………………………………………………………..……Julia Levine*
Master Carpenter……………………………………………………………………………………..Sarah Davidson
Scenic Artists……………………………………………………………………………………....Meghan McCarter*
Katy Strutz
Light Designer and Operator………………………………………………………………………………Liron Ganel
Sound Designer and Operator………………………………………………………………………..…Max Horwitz
Costume Mistress…………… ………………………………………………………………...…Sarah Greenbaum*
Makeup Artist……………………………… ………………………………………………………Meghan McCarter*
Properties……………………………………………………………………………………………Madyson Kendall* Rachel Schechter
Publicist…………………………………………………………………………………………….………Erin Cromer*
Poster Designer……………………………………………………………………………………Meghan McCarter*
House Manager……………………………………………………………………………………..…Jordan Schmitt
*Indicates member of I.T.S. (International Thespian Society) Drama Honor Society
Production Crews
SetPaintCostumes
Ethan Bennett*Erin Cromer*Grace Mosley*
Erin Cromer*Sarah SachsSarah Davidson
Lyndsay WeaverSammi FolsomSammi Folsom
Max FriedmanMax FriedmanMeghan McCarter*
Max HorowitzLyndsay WeaverMia Kweskin
Madyson Kendall*Madyson Kendall*Gretchen Parmley
Jordan SchmittMeghan McCarter*Karlie Pinder
Karlie PinderKarlie Pinder
Rachel SchechterRachel Schechter
Jordan Schmitt
LightsGrace MosleyMake-up
Ethan Bennett*Katie Slaten*Grace Mosley*
Max HorowitzMia KweskinKarlie Pinder
Brandon SchenbergMichael RoseKatie Slaten*
Archie KaranwallMatt ZamanekJordan Crosby
Lizzie SchankmanTim ZamanekErin Cromer*
Morgan Meyers
SoundRuth WilkesPublicity
Sarah DavidsonIvan MillerGretchen Parmley
Doug GardnerAron HendinKarlie Pinder
Lauren WeinsteinJordan Crosby
PropsBen LevineMia Kweskin
Erin Cromer*Max SchechterMax Friedman
Jordan SchmittEmma Frank
Gretchen ParmleyHouse
Wendy GreenwoodGretchen Parmley
*Indicates member of I.T.S. (International Thespian Society) Drama Honor Society
How well do you know Christie’s characters?
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Support the Performing Arts and
HAVE A SEAT!
As a fundraiser for the Music and Theatre Departments, you have an opportunity to “purchase” a seat as a lasting tribute to your favorite musician, singer, band member, thespian, family member or friend!
Brass nameplates will be permanently attached to each Donor’s seat. This can be a great tribute to a loved one, and makes a perfect holiday, birthday or graduation gift. Today, tomorrow and many years from now, whenever you come to enjoy Central’s productions, your “signature” seat will still be there. What a great honor to remember that special child, teacher, friend or relative!
The cost is only $100 each, which is a TAX-DEDUCTABLE contribution. Please make checks payable to the PCHS Seat Fund. Proceeds go toward the Orchestra, Band, Choir and Theatre Departments. A personal certificate is provided with each donation. Share the excitement for excellence in performance art at PCHS and “have a seat!”
Order forms can be found in the lobby during intermission or after the performance. Complete the order form and returned to Mrs. Voss in the Theatre Department.
*** For more information about this and other events, visit the PCH Theatre Department Website by going to and connect to Voss’ webpage…
Or on Facebook: Parkway Central High School Theatre Dept. 2009-2010***
Cast Biographies
(Arranged in alphabetical order)
Tyler Adelstein (Maj. Metcalf): This is Tyler’s sophomore year and hisfirst mainstage show at PCH. He is more than excited to have his very own role. Tyler has been involved in Drama since middle school and says it has impacted his life more than anything. He would like to thank his mom and grandparents for being there for support. Fun Fact: he was tetherball champion in elementary school for three weeks in a row- the longest streak in school history.
Joseph Dardick (Sgt. Trotter): Joseph is only a junior and has already appeared in a myriad of roles in The Elephant Man and as Mr. Perry in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. He enjoys STUCO, Exec. Board of Project Help, guitar, eating and sleeping. Joseph would like to mention Voss and his awesome Actor’s Studio II class. Joseph would like to thank his supportive friends and family and Robert Downey Jr. for showing him how to play a sleuth. Joseph lives by the motto “Oh my pie” and would like to say “I killed a man once.”
Ann Pfizenmaier (Miss Casewell): The Mousetrap is Ann’s first immersion in the PCH drama dept. and it has been a blast getting so close with the cast. A junior, Ann runs cross country, track and sings in the PCH choir. She wants to thank Donna and Tom Phizenmaier for being kind and loving parents and always supporting herin everything. Ann also wants to thank her sisters, Lennie and Kate, who she loves so much and are always there for her no matter what. She doesn’t know what she would do without any of her family and loves them more than anything. Ann thinks families are like fudge-mostly sweet with a few nuts.
Michael Price (Christopher Wren): MP is a junior and is super stoked to be playing Wren and be back on the Central mainstage. Past roles include Gordon Lowther in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Bishop Howe in Elephant Man, and Senior Directed One-Acts his freshmen and sophomore years. Aside from theatre, MP can be found doing a multitude of things to better himself and his community. Also, MP would like to thank Watermeloneesha and that whole gang for keeping things interesting, Voss and Julia for keeping him in line, and his Mom keeping his spirits and dreams high. MP would sure appreciate you to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!
Emma Rechenberg (Mollie Ralston): Emma is a freshman and is thrilled to be a part of what is already her second production. She first appeared as Jenny in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Previous roles at Central Middle include Lady Larken in Once Upon a Mattress, Jean in Channel Surfing 2, and Sarah in Paper or Plastic. Emma is a PCH Cappie, PCH Player, and a member of Student Council. During her free time, she enjoys travelling and hanging with friends. Emma would like to thank her family and friends for supporting her, the cast and crew for making this production a wonderful experience, and Voss for giving her this amazing opportunity. Enjoy the show!
David Schneider (Giles Ralston): David is a junior and feels special about The Mousetrap because of the great cast and crew and everyone’s dedication. Previously he was Young Bernard in Death of A Salesman and Lord John in The Elephant Man. David would like to thank Voss and his parents for making this possible and supporting him.
Katy Strutz (Mrs. Boyle): Katy Strutz is a junior, a Leo, and a Disney enthusiast. Aside from theater, Katy enjoys singing, painting and drawing, eating, and spending time with her friends & family. Her favorite subjects in school are Choir, English, Spanish and Art. She is also the junior class Vice-President, a Peer Teacher, a member of NHS, NEHS and PCH’s all-girls a cappella group, Straight Up. Favorite past roles include Jean Brodie inThe Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Cinderella in Into the Woods Junior, Ellen in Oklahoma! and Sally in the One Act play, The Millennias.. Katy would like to thank the entire Mousetrap cast for making this such a great show, and such an amazing experience.
Alex Tash (Mr. Paravicini): Alex is super duper excited to have the privilege to play an Italian version of himself in his 15th show. He is a freshmen and has performed at the JCC, CampSabra and played Harry in the PCMS production of Once Upon a Mattress opposite the lovely and extremely talented Emma Rechenberg. Alexander Tashew also attends Musical Theatre classes at COCA and is proud member of Flyspace. When he isn’t in the theatre Alex has no hobbies with which to occupy himself, is part of no organizations, no activities, and has never been honored for anything. Alex would finally like to thank, Voss, the techies…just cause they’re, like, great, The Props Mistress, Watermeloneesha and Julia Child (you know who you are).