Saint Michael's Playhouse Opens BASKERVILLE Tonight

The Vermont Premiere of Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, at Saint Michael's Playhouse opens tonight, July 6 and runs through the 16th.

Directed by Sarah Carleton the cast features Christian Kohn as Sherlock Homes, Ian Lowe as Dr. Watson, with Bill Carmichael, Adam Petherbridge, and Abby Lee who together ricochet through more than 30 separate roles in this comedic take on one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most popular literary works.

Performances begin on The Playhouse stage on Wednesday, July 6. Performances are Wednesday - Saturdayevenings 7/6 - 7/9, Tuesday - Saturday 7/12 - 7/16 (8pm curtain), and Saturday matinees 7/9 and 7/16 (2pm curtain).

This new adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved 1901 mystery, had its the world premiere co-production at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, NJ and Arena Stage in Washington, D.C as part of each theater company's 2014/15 season.

Playwright Ken Ludwig describes his new play as equal parts adventure and comedy. Baskerville finds the inimitable Sherlock Holmes and his sturdy companion Dr. Watson battling their greatest mystery to date amid foggy London streets and the foreboding moors of the English countryside. With a mythical hellhound prowling the mists, the great detective will need every ounce of his legendary wit and deductive power to solve the case before it's too late. This murderously funny piece will, in the words of the playwright, "move seamlessly...tumbling forth as the best adventures stories do, with relentless pace and enormous heart."

ABOUT THE CAST & CREATIVE TEAM:

Christian Kohn (Sherlock Holmes) appeared on Broadway in Hollywood Arms along with numerous other credits including the title role in Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, An Ideal Husband, Death of a Salesman, Phaedradirected by JoAnne Akalaitis. Saint Michael's Playhouse credits include Wait Until Dark, Spamalot, Tuesdays with Morrie, Rumors, Unnecessary Farce, Over the Pub, Young Frankenstein, Arsenic and Old Lace.

Ian Lowe (Dr. Watson) appeared in the National Tour of Murder for Two. Off-Broadway and NY theater credits include Nikolai & the Others, The unCivil War, Murder for Two in addition to performances at Ensemble Studio Theater, Manhattan Theater Club, The York, etc. Regional credits include Old Globe, Pittsburgh CLO, Capital Rep, Dorset Theatre Festival, Riverside Theater. Baskerville marks Ian Lowe's debut at Saint Michael's Playhouse.

Bill Carmichael (Actor One) appeared on Broadway in Mamma Mia, Les Miserables, Cats, and Peter Pan. Off-Broadway Bill was in the original production of Forbidden Broadway and can be heard on the original cast recording. In Los Angeles he was in the original US premiere of Ragtime, Forever Plaid, Sweeney Todd with Kelsey Grammer. Saint Michael's Playhouse credits include Wait Until Dark, Spamalot, Pirates of Penzance, Barnum, Blithe Spirit, Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein.

Adam Petherbridge (Actor Two) recently appeared Off-Broadway in In the Secret Sea directed by Martin Charnin, and Da at Irish Repertory Theatre. Regional credits include, Drawer Boy, Much Ado About Nothing, Taming of the Shrew, Boeing Boeing, Lombardi. Previous appearances at Saint Michael's Playhouse include Over the Pub, andFiddler on the Roof.

ABBY LEE (Actor Three) originated the role of Zoe in the world premiere of Car Talk, with other New York and regional credits that include The Rubber Room, The Intervention, Or, Barefoot in the Park. Most recent credits include roles of Hedda Gabbler, Lady Macbeth, and Goneril in King Lear, alongside international actor Graham Hopkins. Saint Michael's Playhouse credits include Wait Until Dark, Barnum, Talley's Folly, Dames at Sea, Almost Maine, Nunsense, Young Frankenstein.

SARAH CARLETON (DIRECTOR) recently directed Wait Until Dark at Saint Michael's Playhouse, Noises Off at University of Vermont and Or, by Liz Duffy Adams at Vermont Stage Company. Past directing credits include Almost Maine, She Stoops to Conquer, Greater Tuna,The Arabian Nights, The Beaux Stratagem, Cloud 9, Eurydice, You Can'tTake it With You, Compleat Female Stage Beauty, and Rumors. In 2010 Ms. Carleton received the Meritorious Achievement Award in Directing from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for Outstanding and Strong Directorial Work. Saint Michael's Playhouse performance credits include Arsenic and Old Lace, Over the Pub, the Brighton Beach Trilogy, Always' Patsy Cline, Rumors, Boeing-Boeing, How I Learned to Drive, Unnecessary Farce.

Ken Ludwig is an award-winning playwright whose work has been performed in over 30 countries and in more than 20 languages, Ken Ludwig's previous works include the Tony Award-winning Lend Me a Tenor, which The New York Times called "one of the two great farces by a living writer." His other best-known Broadway and West End shows includeCrazy for You (5 years on Broadway, Tony and Olivier Award Winner for Best Musical), Moon Over Buffalo, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, among others.

The creative team is led by director Sarah Carleton and includes Carl Tallent (scenic design), Tracey Sullivan(costume design), Anthony Pellecchia (lighting design), Joel Abbott (sound design), Jennifer M. Higgins (property design).

Saint Michael's Playhouse is an Actors' Equity Association theater company operating as an auxiliary enterprise of Saint Michael's College. The Playhouse produces its productions with theater artists from Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theater nationwide, along with Vermont-based professional actors, directors and designers. Actors' Equity Association is the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. Tobin adds "We rehearse our shows here in our McCarthy Arts Center theater facility and design and build our scenery, costumes and props on location with our crew of approximately 70 professional theater artists." This season marks Producing Artistic Director Chuck Tobin's thirty-first year with the professional theater company.

Ticket prices range from $35 to $45 and may be purchased online at saintmichaelsplayouse.org or by calling 802-654-2281 or visiting the walk-up window in the lobby of McCarthy Arts Center. The Playhouse is located at McCarthy Arts Center, on Route 15, in Colchester, Vermont, a ten minute drive from downtown Burlington, Vermont. For a complete show schedule and more information contact the theater box office directly at 802-654-2281 or visit us at saintmichaelsplayhouse.org. Saint Michael's Playhouse, One Winooski Park, Colchester, Vermont 05439.

Photo Credit: BrIan MacDonald

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