Unbound Productions' Mystery Lit Series Heads to LA Arboretum Train Depot

Unbound Productions have announced an enhanced staged read presentation of the company's first Mystery Lit play, Holmes, Sherlock and The Consulting Detective, at the Santa Anita Train Depot at the LA County Arboretum. The event will feature a cast of 13 in costume who will perform the play script-in-hand.

Said Millet, who will also direct the reading, "Since 2014, nearly 1,000 people have attended our Mystery Lit enhanced staged readings at The Huntington, Pasadena Central Library and Sherlock Holmes in Brentwood. Unbound is thrilled to bring this exiting theatrical event event to the Santa Anita Train Depot at the Los Angeles County Arboretum."

"Our goal is to present a full produced production of this play sometime next year," said Josephson, who is also the playwright of the piece. "At this time we have no concrete plans as to when or where that will happen, but a fully realized play with the lights, sound design and special effects that Wicked Lit audiences are accustomed to is very much our goal.

About the play: It's Sherlock Holmes times-three! Follow three different versions of Doyle's iconic Baker Street detective through a literary labyrinth of clues and misdirection in a script-in-hand performance featuring Sherlockian mainstays, new characters, and a host of theatrical surprises. Presented by Unbound Productions, this performance will appeal to young audiences, theatre lovers and Sherlock super-fans alike.

Directions: To get to the Santa Anita Train Depot, travel southbound on Baldwin Avenue, passing the Arboretum's main entrance at 301 North Baldwin Avenue and turning right into the second driveway you reach, marked "Arboretum Train Depot."

Some walking and climbing of narrow bleachers will be required as a part of this event. Patrons will primarily be seated for the event.

Tickets are available at unboundproductions.org of by calling 323-332-2065. Tickets: $15Unbound and Arboretum Members - check your email for a $5 discount code
Recommended for ages 10 and up.

In 1970, an abandoned train station was moved from its original location a quarter mile north of the Arboretum and restored to look as it was first constructed by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in 1890. A typical half-passenger, half- freight depot with living quarters upstairs for the agent and family, the Santa Anita Depot was an active local station stop for both Baldwin Ranch and nearby Sierra Madre residents.

The Depot could not be moved intact, but all 100,000 of the original bricks were removed from the station as well as salvageable doors, trim, beams and even the picturesque Depot balcony. Reference photographs were taken of the interior details, and within days the Santa Anita Depot was a stack of wood and brick in the south parking lot of the Arboretum. Reconstruction was completed in 1970 and fifty yards of Santa Fe standard gauge track was laid in front of the Depot by members of the Monrovia Model Railroad Club.

The Santa Anita Depot of today has been refurnished with turn-of-the-century housewares and period railroad equipment to recreate the ambiance of the bustling station stop it once was. Guided tours of the Santa Anita Depot are available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., and every Sunday 1-4 p.m. (except for Christmas Day) as volunteer time permits. Follow either the dirt path down to the Depot or the winding, paved walkway opposite the Hugo Reid Adobe.

Founded in 2008 by Jonathan Josephson, Paul Millet and Jeff G. Rack, Unbound Productions is a nonprofit theatre company whose mission is to re-imagine timeless stories for new audiences by creating immersive, theatrical adaptations of literature. Since our first full production of Wicked Lit in 2009, over 15,000 patrons have enjoyed our immersive theatre events at venues ranging from Mountain View Mausoleum and Cemetery, to Pasadena Museum of History, to Barney's Beanery in West Hollywood. Unbound has also presented staged readings at Long Beach Comic Con, Pasadena Art Walk, the West Hollywood Book Fair, NoHo Lit Crawl, The Chance Theatre, The Echo Theatre Company, and many other venues and events. Unbound has produced 30 world premiere plays throughout its history, some of which have gone on to be produced at venues across the country as well as Scotland, England and Cameroon.

To post a comment, you must register and login.