Oak Park Festival Theatre and the 19th Century Charitable Association Present THE MOUSETRAP

The scene is set when eight strangers gather in a country house cut off by the snow and discover, to their horror, that there is a murderer in their midst. Who can it be? One by one the suspicious characters reveal their sordid pasts until at the last, nerve-shredding moment the identity and the motive are finally revealed.

In their re-creation of a 1940's live radio broadcast of THE MOUSETRAP, Oak Park Festival Theatre in conjunction with the Nineteenth Century Charitable Association will transport the audience back to the halcyon days of radio with a theatrical recreation of a "live remote broadcast" of this thrilling radio mystery from WVOP's Theater of the Air.

The Mousetrap is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. The Mousetrap opened in the West End of London in 1952, and has been running continuously since then. It has by far the longest initial run of any play in history, with its 25,000th performance taking place on 18 November 2012.

Christie herself did not expect The Mousetrap to run for such a long time. In her autobiography, she reports a conversation that she had with Peter Saunders: "Fourteen months I am going to give it", says Saunders. To which Christie replies, "It won't run that long. Eight months perhaps. Yes, I think eight months." When it broke the record for the longest run of a play in the West End in September 1957, Christie received a mildly grudging telegram from fellow playwright Noël Coward: "Much as it pains me I really must congratulate you ..."

The play began life as a short radio play broadcast on 30 May 1947 called Three Blind Mice in honour of Queen Mary, the consort of King George V. The play had its origins in the real-life case of the death of a boy, Dennis O'Neill, who died while in the foster care of a Shropshire farmer and his wife in 1945.

Oak Park Festival Theatre - Oak Park's Equity theatre and the Midwest's oldest professional theatre performing the classics outdoors - is currently celebrating its 42nd year of theatrical excellence producing outstanding productions of the plays of William Shakespeare and other classical authors, as well as important contemporary plays by some of the world's greatest playwrights.The Nineteenth Century Club was established in 1891 by a group of visionary women who believed that education, charitable activities, and civic involvement were vital elements in a thriving community. The spirit of the founders continues today in the work of the Nineteenth Century Charitable Association through benevolence grants, scholarships, and public programming in five areas: music, art, literature, science, and social sciences.

Friday, October 21,2016 Reception at 6:30 PM | Performance at 7:30 PM

Sunday, October 23,2016 Reception at 2:30 PM | Performance at 3:30 PM

Join the pre-show reception for an hour of cocktails, light buffet, lively 40's tunes, and to visit with the cast

TICKETS
General admission $30 | Seniors $24 | Students $15
Children under 12 free

Tickets available online at OAKPARKFESTIVAL.COM or by calling the BOX OFFICE 708-445-4440.

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