Murder Mystery Classic Laura to Play Stoneham Theatre This May

Everyone is a suspect in the murder of Laura Hunt, an irresistibly attractive business woman trying to make her way in the world of advertising. A hard-boiled detective on the case becomes infatuated with her portrait after reading her memoirs, but her closest friends don't trust him. The twists and turns of this film noir classic, adapted for the stage, will have you guessing whodunit.

Performances run from May 5 - 22, 2016. Press Opening is Saturday, May 7, 2016 at 3:00pm. LAURA, by George Sklar and Vera Caspary, will be directed by IRNE Award Winner Sarah Gazdowicz.

"Sarah has directed several young company shows for us and is a well-known director in the fringe community of Boston. She has a remarkable enthusiasm and keen vision, and I can't wait to see how she injects her unique skills and contemporary flair into this genre," shares Producing Artistic Director Weylin Symes.

The stylish and sexy murder mystery is an unforgettable 1944 movie starring Gene Tierney and Vincent Price. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, and it received the Oscar for Best Cinematography. The American Film Institute ranked the movie at number 4 in its list of the Top 10 Greatest Film Mysteries of All Time, and in 1999, Laura was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

"While LAURA is a story that many are familiar with through the classic film, I believe the play will offer audiences some new and exciting surprises. Although it takes place in 1940's New York City, it's a surprisingly modern story which makes keen observations about gender roles, especially the expectations that society had and continues to impose upon women, and the frightening effects of toxic masculinity. That, coupled with the romantic mystique of the noir style and the tension of a top-notch psychological thriller, makes LAURA a piece I am excited to work on and share with an audience," says Director Sarah Gazdowicz.

LAURA is unusual for a 'whodunnit,' in that the eponymous heroine, Laura, played by Jasmine Rush*, is killed before the start of the action of the play, and the audience builds up a picture of her by flashback and by the investigations of laconic Detective Mark McPherson, played by Alexander Cook*, who finds himself falling in love with the dead girl.

"I love these noir mystery plays. Over the years, we've done several of them (Gaslight and Strangers on a Train are probably my favorites), and I've discovered just how well the shadowy, stylistic, and high drama elements of noir work on stage. I also like that LAURA is a bit of a forgotten mystery. You just don't see it done very much anymore despite the fact that it's a great story, with an amazing surprise twist and an incredibly modern heroine in the lead role," shares Symes.

The design team is comprised of Scenic Designer James Tolman, Lighting Designer Deb Sullivan, Costume Designer Erica Desautels, and Sound Designer Chris Larson.

Single Tickets for LAURA: $45-50 Adults; $40-45 Seniors; $20 Students (with a valid ID). "Thrifty Thursday" tickets cost $15 at the door and are available for the Thursday, May 5, 2016 performance at 7:30pm. Student Rush Tickets start one hour prior to each performance, and 2 Student tickets may be purchased for the price of one (subject to availability). There will be a talkback after the performance on Sunday, May 8, 2016 at 2:00pm. For more information or to purchase tickets, call Stoneham Theatre's Box Office at (781) 279-2200, or visit www.stonehamtheatre.org.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

SARAH GAZDOWICZ (Director) is a Boston-based director, performer, and teaching artist. Sarah began her relationship with Stoneham Theatre working for the young company for two joy-filled summers directing Love's Labour's Lost (2015) and Argonautika (2014). Recent directing credits include Polish Joke (Titanic Theatre Company), The Winter's Tale (Maiden Phoenix Theatre Company), The Farnsworth Invention (IRNE Winner, Best Director) (Flat Earth Theatre), Chalk (Fresh Ink Theatre), and Bully Dance (Argos Productions). As a performer, Sarah has often collaborated with imaginary beasts, a company that explores obscure works through a collaborative process, on projects such as their Winter Pantomimes, Betty Bam!, and Knock! (IRNE Winner, Best Ensemble) and is an ensemble member of the long-running, high-brow entertainment, Sh*t- Faced Shakespeare.

LIANA ASIM (Mrs. Dorgan) is a playwright/actor. She was recently seen on stage as Mai Tamba in The Convert at Central Square Theater and as Marcus Lycus in Stoneham Theatre's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. A 2015 BCA and Company One PlayLab Fellow, her full-length plays include Bedfellows, The King of Love Is Dead, Slut Walk or A Play About Marilyn Monroe, The Hairy Scary (musical co-written with J. Asim and J. Kartes.) Her work has been developed at BCA/Company One, Boston Theatre Marathon, Fresh Ink Theatre, Davenport Studios NYC, and Emerson College in Boston, MA.

STEVE BARKHIMER* (Waldo Lydecker) has appeared at Stoneham Theatre in A Year with Frog and Toad, The Dinosaur Musical, And Then There Were None, Around the World in Eighty Days, Romeo and Juliet, and Lumberjacks in Love, for which he also provided musical direction. His music and lyrics will be featured in Stoneham Theatre's next production, Weylin Symes' original musical Lobster Girl. Also seen recently in The Winter's Tale (Actors' Shakespeare Project) and Copenhagen/Einstein's Dreams (Underground Railway Theatre). His play, Windowmen, was honored with the Elliot Norton and IRNE Awards for Best New Play of 2013, and his adaptation of The School for Scandal was just performed by the Actors' Shakespeare Project.

ALEXANDER COOK* (Mark McPherson) is making his Stoneham Theatre debut in Laura. Theater: Arabian Nights, winner of four 2011 IRNE Awards (Central Square Theater), Saving Kitty with Jennifer Coolidge (Nora Theatre Company), Lend Me A Tenor, sweep winner of eight 2015 BroadwayWorld "Rhody" Awards (Ocean State Theatre), A Picasso (Theater Workshop of Nantucket), Blasted (Wilbury Theater Group), Fools (Ocean State Theatre), and The Lily's Revenge (American Repertory Theater). Film: The Congressman (April 2016), Purge 3: Election Year (June 2016), The Finest Hours, Joy, Black Mass, The Forger, Almost Mercy, This Killing Business, and Dawn of the Dead (1979). He received his BFA in Acting from Carnegie Mellon's School of Drama.

MOLLY KIMMERLING (Bessie Clary) is delighted to make her Stoneham Theatre debut! She was last seen in Rhinoceros at the Modern Theatre. Molly is a proud Artistic Associate for imaginary beasts. Select beast credits include: Scraps in Winter Panto 2016: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Babushka in Knock!, Betty in Betty Bam, and various roles in Little Giants: The Miniature Plays of Thornton Wilder and Cruel Botany. Molly has worked with New Exhibition Room (EEP Show!) and Company One (Den of Thieves, Last Day of Judas Iscariot, and Splendor). Molly is a graduate of Suffolk University and the Cornerstone Theater Institute in California under the direction of Bill Rauch.

ALEXANDER MOLINA* (Shelby Carpenter) is happy to be making his debut with Stoneham Theatre! Off- Broadway: The Light Princess (New Victory). Regional: Colossal (Company One), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Flock Theatre). Education: A.R.T. Institute at Harvard University in 2015 (MFA).

ELIOTT PURCELL (Danny Dorgan) is delighted to return to Stoneham Theatre's stage after appearing as Clinton Badger in Meet Me in St. Louis last season. Area Credits: appropriate (SpeakEasy Stage); Romeo and Juliet as Romeo, Cymbeline, King Lear, Two Gentlemen of Verona (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company); A Measure of Normalcy (Gloucester Stage Company); Our Town (Huntington Theatre Company); Language of Angels (Happy Medium Theatre); and The Importance of Being Earnest, The Song of Achilles (Newton Theatre Company). NYC Credit: Jews on First the musical (Piece of Tish Productions). Eliott holds a BA in Theatre from Boston College.

JASMINE RUSH* (Laura Hunt) is a Milwaukee, WI native who made her journey to the Northeast coast by way of Minneapolis, MN. She obtained a B.A. in Theatre Arts from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, and is a graduate of Circle in the Square Theatre School of NYC. Recent New England Theatre credits include Saturday Night, Sunday Morning (Lyric Stage), Well (Actors Studio NBPT). Selected New York theatre credits include No Justice, Just Us (Roy Arias Theatre) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Circle in the Square Theatre Workshop). Her television credits include Orange is the New Black and Difficult People. Upcoming Indie Feature: Bonhomme (Daniel Armas Prod, NY). www.jasminemrush.com

Now in its 16th Season of live theatre in Stoneham, MA, the mission of Stoneham Theatre is to keep the art of professional theatre and dramatic education thriving in the suburbs. Each season, we produce seven Mainstage shows, present a series of Special Events, and run year-round classes, lessons, and fully staged productions through the young company for students in grades 1-12.