East Lynne to Present HOLMES AND CARTER MYSTERIES

"Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at midday tomorrow. Do come!" was how the telegram read. It was sent to Sherlock Holmes from Violet Hunter, a governess employed at The Copper Beeches.

"Within the last couple of months, two of my clients have disappeared. Both inherited several million dollars a short time ago," said Harruthers to New York detective, Nick Carter.

Step back in time, on Friday, March 20 and Saturday, March 21 at 8:00p.m., when the award winning Equity professional East Lynne Theater Company presents two crime stories with two different detectives in "Holmes and Carter Mysteries." Presented in the style of a radio broadcast, complete with live sound effects and commercials, the mysteries are "Sherlock Holmes Adventure of the Copper Beeches" and "Nick Carter and the Strange Dr. Devolo." This is the last time ELTC will be performing these two radio shows. In November, the two new mysteries are "The Red-Headed League" and "The Voice of Crime."

In 1930, the Sherlock Holmes radio series began with "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" and in 1943, the Nick Carter series was launched with "The Strange Dr. Devolo." While "Copper Beeches" is not the original script by Edith Meiser (this one is adapted by Gayle Stahlhuth), "The Strange Dr. Devolo" IS the original script, used with permission by Conde Nast.

The same cast of six takes on the roles of those in Holmes' Victorian England and in Carter's Manhattan during World War II on the same night. They are Lee O'Connor, Fred Velde, Mark Edward Lang, Alison J. Murphy, Gayle Stahlhuth, and Robert LeMaire.

Lee O'Connor first portrayed Holmes in ELTC's William Gillette's "Sherlock Holmes" and has become one of the main storytellers for the company's "Tales of the Victorians." Fred, who was in ELTC's "Anna Christie," "Rain," "Dulcy," and "The Poe Mysteries," has appeared in over fifty shows in NYC, including the off-Broadway revival of Mae West's "Sex."

Mark Edward Lang's work with ELTC includes the recent world premiere of "Zorro!" as an actor, and "Anna Christie," as a director. Other credits include performing in Off-Broadway's "Welcome Home Marian Anderson" and from April 30-May 3, he's performing in a play he wrote, "Lunt and Fontanne: The Celestials of Broadway" with wife Alison J. Murphy, in NYC. Alison has appeared in several ELTC shows including "The Late Christopher Bean," and in a staged reading of the first Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "Why Marry?" directed by Gayle Stahlhuth and produced by ELTC at the historic Players Club in NYC. Other New York credits include "Aurora Leigh," and "The Wound of Love."

Gayle Stahlhuth, who directed, is in her seventeenth year of serving as artistic director to ELTC. Robert LeMaire, who appeared in several ELTC productions including "The Dictator" and "The Ransom of Red Chief," is portraying several roles and operating the sound effects.

Performances are at The First Presbyterian Church of Cape May, 500 Hughes St., where the company is in residence. Tickets are $25 for general admission, $15 for full-time students and those in the military, and, as always, anyone age 12 and under is free. For information and reservations, call 609-884-5898 or go online to www.eastlynnetheater.org. "Holmes and Carter Mysteries" is part of Cape May's "Sherlock Holmes' Weekend." For other Sherlock Holmes' events, contact The Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts and Humanities at 609-884-5404 or online at www.capemaymac.org.

These performances are also part of many events that are included in New Jersey Theatre Alliance's (NJTA) Stages Festival. Other ELTC Stages' events include "Our American Cousin" (March 22), "Theater: As American as Apple Pie" (March 28), and "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" (March 31).

The Stages Festival is the state's largest annual theater festival, offering over 100 performances, workshops, and events at professional theaters, arts centers, schools, and other community venues. To receive a full schedule and learn about the sponsors for these events, visit www.stagesfestival.org. To learn more about NJTA, visit www.njtheatrealliance.org,

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