EDMONDS — Ken Ludwig’s plays have been produced in more than 30 countries and translated into almost as many other languages.
His work as been produced on Broadway and London’s West End. He’s won Tony awards and garnered lots of other professional recognition.
Even so, his fanbase includes loads of American community theater actors and audiences — including people who perform in and attend productions by Edmonds Driftwood Players. His “The Game’s Afoot” opens Friday at Driftwood’s Wade James Theatre.
Called a master of mayhem, Ludwig writes shows that are well-suited to community theater. They are fast moving, funny and surprising.
“The Game’s Afoot” won the 2012 Edgar Allan Poe award for best play. It premiered in 2011 at the Cleveland Playhouse. The critic for the Cleveland Plain Dealer called it “an inspired whodunit … a snappy, clever drawing room mystery. There are twists (in Ludwig’s story) that cause the audience to gasp.”
No doubt the Edmonds Driftwood Players will do justice to the comic whodunit.
Directed by Ted Jaquith, the cast includes Jon Woods, Laura Crouch, Jay Vilhauer, Jennifer Makenas, Colleen Davis, J. Woody Lotts, Caitlin Gilman and Gretchen Douma.
Woods portrays the Broadway star William Gillette, admired internationally for his leading role in the play “Sherlock Holmes.” Set in December 1936, the action takes place during a week-long party Gillette has thrown for fellow cast members at his Connecticut home.
But when one of the guests is found dead, the festivities in this isolated house quickly turn dangerous. Gillette must summon his script-learned Sherlock skills to solve the mystery and identify the killer, before he or she strikes again.
The Game’s Afoot
Edmonds Driftwood Players shows are 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, June 9-25, at Wade James Theatre, 950 Main St., Edmonds. Tickets are $25 general, $22 senior, junior, military. Go to www.edmondsdriftwoodplayers.org or call 425-774-9600. The ASL show is June 17.
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