TBTB's THE UNEXPECTED GUEST Begins Tonight at Theatre Row

Theater Breaking Through Barriers (TBTB) launches its 2015 season with a revival of Agatha Christie's rarely seen 1958 thriller The Unexpected Guest, with Off-Broadway previews set to begin tonight, April 11 at Theatre Row's Clurman Theatre (410 West 42nd Street) in Manhattan.

Victoria Rauch Lichterman directs the production for Theater Breaking Through Barriers, the critically acclaimed theatre company dedicated to advancing artists with disabilities and changing the image of people with disabilities from dependence to independence. Official press opening is Sunday, April 19, with performances scheduled to run through May 10.

In The Unexpected Guest, on a dark and foggy evening a lost stranger seeks refuge in a nearby country estate only to discover that he has stumbled onto the scene of a murder. Agatha Christie's delicious tour-de-force features a dizzying array of twists and turns. Audiences are truly kept guessing until the very end.

The cast features company core members and newcomers to TBTB, including Scott Barton, Melanie Boland, Christopher Imbrosciano ("The Good Wife"), Anthony Lopez, Lawrence Merritt, Anne Marie Morelli, Pamela Sabaugh (The Goldman Project), David Rosar Stearns, and Nicholas Viselli (Merchant of Venice).

The production features set and lighting design by Bert Scott; costume design by Amanda Jenks; sound design by Sam Crawford; props by Charles Bowden. Production Manager is Sherri Kotimsky and Production Stage Manager is Kate Croasdale.

The Unexpected Guest represents the final work of TBTB's Founding Artistic Director Ike Schambelan, who passed away on February 3, 2015. "The Unexpected Guest was a favorite play of our founder, colleague and mentor Ike Schambelan, who first directed it for Theater by the Blind in 1988," says TBTB interim artistic director Nicholas Viselli. "Victoria, the cast, designers and production staff were selected by Ike for this run. We are honored to be able to present his work posthumously, to uphold his artistic vision, and to continue his mission to produce Off-Broadway plays that integrate artists with disabilities alongside able-bodied actors."

Director Victoria Rauch Lichterman is a veteran actress, published writer, corporate trainer and educator. She was a classmate of Ike Schambelan's at the Yale School of Drama. Their personal and professional friendship spanned fifty years. With more than 100 roles in television, theater and film to her credit, Lichterman began her acting career on the popular soap opera "Search for Tomorrow." She was an assistant professor in the Theatre Department at Brooklyn College in the sixties and seventies. She returned to teaching in the early nineties and was hired by New York College of Technology to teach speech and Theatre Arts courses. And at the age of 67, she became, at the time, the oldest person in the CUNY system to be awarded tenure. She has had fiction published in Redbook magazine and has written for the sitcom, "Kate and Allie." She is also a genocide scholar. Her play, Fallen Sparrow, will be presented this spring at the New York City College of Technology.

Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is the author of The Mousetrap, the world's longest-running play. Her other plays include Witness for the Prosecution and Ten Little Indians. She is best known for her crime novels, such as "Murder on the Orient Express," "The Mirror Crack'd," "Evil Under the Sun" and Death on the Nile," written between 1920 and 1976.

The Unexpected Guest premiered in London's West End on August 12, 1958. Theater Breaking Through Barriers, formerly Theater by the Blind, is a critically acclaimed Off-Broadway company integrating able-bodied actors with artists with disabilities. Founded in 1979, by Ike Schambelan, the company's mission is to change the image of people with disabilities from one of dependence to independence, to fight stereotypes and misperceptions associated with disability, and to show how vibrant, fluid and exuberant the work of artists with disabilities can be. TBTB works to decrease the prejudice and fear shown to people with disabilities by showing the exuberance and independence as well as the challenges of lives lived with disability. Nicholas Viselli is TBTB's interim Artistic Director.

Performances of Agatha Christie's The Unexpected Guest run at Theatre Row's Clurman Theatre (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues), tonight, April 11-May 10: Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7pm; Fridays at 8pm; Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm; Sunday at 3pm. (There are no 3pm matinees on April 11 or 19.) Tickets are $45. For reservations, call 212-239-6200 or visit www.telecharge.com. For additional information, visit www.tbtb.org.

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