Prince George's Little Theatre to Present A SHOT IN THE DARK in January

Prince George's Little Theatre will present "A Shot in the Dark" weekends at the Bowie Playhouse January 9 - 24. All Friday performances and the Saturday January 10 and 17 performances are at 8 p.m. The Sunday January 11 and 18 and Saturday January 24 matinees are at 2 pm.

"A Shot in the Dark" is set in Paris in the office of Paul Sevigne (Matt Leyendecker), a French magistrate, who is confronted by a free-spirited and guileless young woman who works in the home of one of the most prominent families in France. Josefa (Erica Jureckson) has been discovered in her bedroom nude, with the body of her Spanish lover and the gun by her side.

Under the French system, the examining magistrate must decide if there is enough evidence to take her to trial, where she will be considered guilty unless proven innocent. This is the magistrate's first case since he was promoted to Paris, and he is under pressure to close the case quickly from his beautiful and ambitious wife Antoinette (Lea Scherini) and his boss Lablache (Danny Brooks). Lablache advises him to get a quick confession and bundle Josefa off to prison to avoid inconveniencing her wealthy employers, banker Benjamin Beaurevers (Brian Binney) and his wife Dominique (Mary Koster). And the evidence seems to be stacked against the sexy suspect.

Josefa is perfectly willing to confess, but her story keeps changing as the facts undermine her versions. When the magistrate tells her that he wants to re-enact the crime exactly as it happened, she begins taking off her clothes since she was found naked at the crime scene. Despite her distractions and the pressure to go along with the most obvious solution, Sevigne confesses to his clerk Morestan (Martin Hayes) that he suspects that Josefa is lying to protect the guilty party. As the guard (Patrick O'Connell) brings the suspects in to be questioned, the magistrate struggles to determine the truth.

When the play opened on Broadway in 1961, it starred Julie Harris, Walter Matthau, and William Shatner, so it is no surprise that this comic mystery is very different from the 1964 Inspector Clouseau movie of the same name. The play itself is a genuine "whodunnit" as well as a saucy comedy with a very French outlook on life and love. Those who only know the movie will find plenty of surprises in the original play, written by Marcel Achard and adapted into English by Harry Kurnitz. The play is directed by Keith Brown and produced by Roy Peterson.

All performances take place at the Bowie Playhouse, 16500 White Marsh Park Drive, Bowie, Maryland. Regular-priced tickets ($20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors) can be purchased at www.pglt.org, by calling (301) 937-7458, or at the box office prior to each performance if tickets are remaining. Groups of ten can purchase tickets in advance for $13 a ticket, a $7 savings over the standard ticket price. There are directions to the Playhouse and more details on ticket purchases at PGLT's website: www.pglt.org.

PGLT's season ends with the May 1-16 production of the farce "Suite Surrender."

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