THE ALLEY THEATRE
www.alleytheatre.org
Gregory Boyd, Artistic Director
Dean R. Gladden, Managing Director
 

PRESENT

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE

By Agatha Christie

Directed by Gregory Boyd

June 29th through July 31st, 2011
 

Hubbard Stage

Alley Theatre Announces Casting and Creative Team for Annual ExxonMobil Summer Chills, Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None
- Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None runs June 29 through July 31, 2011, on the Hubbard Stage.

HOUSTON, TX – Beginning June, 2011 Alley Theatre will produce Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None during its popular ExxonMobil Summer Chills series. Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None is the Alley Theatre’s 20th production of an Agatha Christie play in its 64 year history. The perfect summer outing for Houstonians seeking a cool respite from the summer heat, ExxonMobil Summer Chills is a great way to introduce live theatre to first-timers, giving them an opportunity to thrill in suspenseful moments and unexpected revelations. This year, 2011, marks the 35th anniversary of Agatha Christie’s death.

Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None  is directed by Gregory Boyd and begins performances Wednesday, June 29, opens officially Friday, July 1 and runs through Sunday, July 31, 2011 on the Hubbard Stage. 

When ten houseguests gather on a secluded island, the situation is ripe for misfortune.  One by one, each guest meets their fate.  Who’s the murderous culprit?  And who’s been stealing the carved Soldier Island figurines from the mantle?  Mystery’s most famous Dame asks these baffling questions and more in this classic whodunit. Recommended for general audiences.

Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None features Alley Theatre Artists James Black as Judge Wargrave, Jeffrey Bean as William Blore, James Belcher as General Mackenzie, Josie de Guzman as Vera Claythorne, David Rainey as Rodgers, John Tyson as Doctor Armstrong, and Todd Waite as Philip Lombard.

Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None also features, Jennifer Harmon as Emily Brent (Alley’s August: Osage County), Anne Quackenbush as Mrs. Rogers (Alley’s Amadeus, Harvey, Our Town) and Adam Van Wagoner as Anthony Marston (Alley’s Amadeus, Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up).

(L-R) Josie de Guzman as Vera Claythorne and Todd Waite as Philip Lombard in the Alley Theatre’s production of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None runs on the Alley Theatre’s Hubbard Stage June 29 through July 31, 2011.  For more information visit www.alleytheatre.org.  Photo by Jann Whaley.


 

The design team for Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None includes scenic design by Linda Buchanan (Alley’s House and Garden) and costume design by Blair Gulledge (Alley’s Intelligence-Slave, Mrs. Mannerly, Underneath the Lintel). Lighting design is by Michael Lincoln (Alley’s Boeing Boeing, A Streetcar Named Desire, Hydriotaphia) and sound design is by Pierre Dupree (Alley’s August: Osage County, A Behanding in Spokane, Intelligence-Slave).

Dame Agatha Christie, the most famous creator of murder mysteries, was born in 1890 and worked as a hospital dispenser during the First World War. Her first detective novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), introduced Hercule Poirot, the Belgian hero who was to appear in many subsequent novels and plays. Over the next 56 years, Christie wrote 66 novels and more than a dozen plays, including Murder on the Orient Express, The Mousetrap, The Unexpected Guest, Black Coffee, And Then There Were None, and the Miss Marple mysteries - which served as the basis for the films Murder, She Said and Murder at the Gallop and the inspiration for many television programs. The Alley has produced many of Christie’s plays, among them Death on the Nile, Witness for the Prosecution, The Mousetrap, Black Coffee, Spider’s Web and Towards Zero.

Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None is sponsored by Presenting Sponsor ExxonMobil. The Alley Theatre is supported by the 2011-2012 season sponsor United Airlines, the official airline of the Alley Theatre.

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None start at $25 and are available using our new interactive ticketing area. It’s fast, easy to use and allows ticket buyers the ability to select a section as well as their own individual seats from the interactive seating map. And there are no additional handling fees when tickets are purchased online, by phone or in person at the box office! Tickets to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None are available for purchase at www.alleytheatre.org, at the Alley Theatre Box Office, 615 Texas Avenue, or by calling 713.220.5700. Groups of 10 or more can receive special concierge services and select discounts by calling 713.220.5700 and asking for the group sales department.
 

(L-R) James Belcher as General Mackenzie and Josie de Guzman as Vera Claythorne in the Alley Theatre’s production of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None runs on the Alley Theatre’s Hubbard Stage June 29 through July 31, 2011. For more information visit www.alleytheatre.org. Photo by Jann Whaley.


 

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Alley Theatre Stages New Works by Teen Playwrights for this Summer’s Houston Young Playwrights Exchange

HOUSTON – For the 15^th consecutive year, the Alley Theatre is providing young playwrights the chance to improve and expand their writing skills with its summer program, Houston Young Playwrights Exchange (HYPE). Six plays by local teens have been selected to undergo development in a professional forum guided by the Alley’s staff, with the program culminating in a two-day public showcase of their work as staged readings – Friday, August 12 and Saturday, August 13, 2011 on the Neuhaus Stage. Some plays contain adult language and adult situations.

One of the Alley Theatre’s Education and Community Engagement Department’s premier programs, HYPE has helped dozens of young playwrights develop their work since the program was started in 1996. The six HYPE participants also have the opportunity to learn from an experienced playwright Alvaro Saar Rios, HYPE playwright in residence. A native Houstonian, Mr. Rios attended HCC Central Campus and the University of Houston and has worked with various Houston theaters, including the Alley Theatre, Express Children’s Theatre, and The Ensemble Theatre. Mr. Rios and his wife, Michelle, are the co-founders of The Royal Mexican Players, a national touring performance troupe. Mr. Rios is the author of various plays, such as The Crazy Mexican Show and One Hot Texican Summer.  His work has been performed in New York City, Milwaukee, Chicago, and all over Texas. Recently, Mr. Rios obtained an MFA in Writing for Stage & Screen from Northwestern University where he wrote Moody, a full-length play inspired by the Moody Park Riots.

Plays featured in the Alley’s Houston Young Playwrights Exchange 2011 include:

Alive
by James Hamrick, 18 (Memorial)
A female ghost and a mere mortal conspire to stay together forever.

James Hamrick recently graduated from the Kinkaid School and will be attending Nebraska Wesleyan University. He has performed at theatres around Houston inducing TUTS, HITS and Masquerade Theatre and plans to pursue a musical theatre degree in college. He hopes the HYPE experience will help him "solidify my writing style and create a distinct voice for myself."

Boom, Straight to the Moon
by Ellen Kosatka, 17 (Braeswood)
A young woman time travels to the past in order to save her father.

Ellen Kosatka will be a senior at Carnegie Vanguard High School. She was inspired to write her play when she "saw a movie about the butterfly effect, and I thought it was just so intriguing that the smallest action could have the most intricate and outlandish outcomes." She is interested in majoring in Film in college and regularly volunteers at the Houston Humane Society.

Don’t Go To Hell, Dad
by Celestina Billington, 17 (Idylwood)
A young boy hammers nails into the ground above his father’s liquor stash with the hope that the Devil will injure himself when he surfaces to take his father.

Celestina Billington will be a junior next year at Lamar High School. She hopes that audiences who see her play "leave with a renewed or heightened appreciation for their familial relationships and spirituality." Last summer she was a member of Stage’s Young Actor’s Conservatory and is a member of Troupe 153, Loading Dock Production Company at Lamar High School.

In Media Res
by Camron Alexander, 15 (Katy)
A grieving wife carries her husband’s gun around for safety but finds out the hard way that everyone is in much graver danger due to its presence.

Camron Alexander will be a junior next year at James E. Taylor High School. He wanted to be a part of HYPE because he felt "it was an amazing opportunity to not only learn and develop my own abilities but also to work with others who can teach me more about the world of theatre and writing on a professional level," and he hopes his play "demonstrates the importance of what others say and how one person’s actions may have a lasting affect in the lives of those around them."

Great People
by Lauren Bellmore, 18 (Klein)
A young couple discovers that they can no longer be together — and that breaking up doesn’t have to be so terrible.

Lauren Bellmore recently graduated from Klein High School and will be attending University of North Texas, majoring in Drama. While at Klein High School, she was involved in the Drama department, the Speech and Debate department, and was a member of the Academic Decathlon team. One of her favorite playwrights is Rajiv Joseph. "When I saw Gruesome Playground Injuries, I was absolutely amazed and astonished at the quality and realism of the writing. His characters' complexities grab you, and he fleshes them out with such ease."

A Vivid Mirage
by Deion Williams, 16 (Houston)
Two teenage boys, lost in the desert, experiment with the power of creative visualization in order to help others find them.

Deion Williams will be a senior next year at John H. Reagan High School. Deion would like audiences to take away from the play that "Hope comes in handy. Faith is your weapon. Friends keep you going." Williams would like to learn from HYPE "how theatre works and where I fit into it."

TICKET INFORMATION
Friday, August 12, 2011 at 7:30 PM and Saturday, August 13, 2011 at 2:30 PM and 7:30 PM. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the Alley Theatre box office, 615 Texas Avenue or online at www.alleytheatre.org. For more ticket information, visit alleytheatre.org or call 713.220.5700.

ABOUT THE ALLEY THEATRE
The Alley Theatre is a professional resident theatre company under the direction of Artistic Director Gregory Boyd and Managing Director Dean Gladden. It is one of the few American Theatre companies that supports a company of actors, designers, artisans and craftspeople throughout the year. Productions are built and rehearsed in a 75,000 square foot state-of-the art facility, one of the largest of its kind, adjacent to its two-theatre complex in downtown Houston.

(L-R) Adam Van Wagoner as Anthony Marston and Jennifer Harmon as Emily Brent in the Alley Theatre’s production of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None runs on the Alley Theatre’s Hubbard Stage June 29 through July 31, 2011. For more information visit www.alleytheatre.org. Photo by Jann Whaley.


 

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Alley Theatre Holds Open Auditions for Houston Actors

WHAT 
Alley Theatre Hosts Open Auditions for Local Actors
2011-2012 Seasonal Auditions for Houston actors will be Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at the Alley Theatre, 615 Texas Avenue. Auditions will be for AEA and non-AEA adult actors.  Auditions will be by appointment only, and may be scheduled beginning Tuesday, July 5, 2011.

To obtain an appointment, e-mail contact information (name, phone number, and indicate whether you are a member of AEA) to auditions@alleytheatre.org on or after Tuesday, July 5, 2011.  Actors should prepare one monologue (classical or contemporary) and bring a current headshot and resume.

Children’s Auditions for Alley Theatre’s annual production of A Christmas Carol will be held in late August.

WHEN
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
BY APPOINTMENT ONLY

WHERE
Alley Theatre
615 Texas Ave.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
For more information, e-mail auditions@alleytheatre.org.

ABOUT THE ALLEY THEATRE
The Alley Theatre is a professional resident theatre company under the direction of Artistic Director Gregory Boyd and Managing Director Dean Gladden. It is one of the few American Theatre companies that support a company of actors, designers, artisans and craftspeople throughout the year. Productions are built and rehearsed in a 75,000 square foot state-of-the art facility, one of the largest of its kind, adjacent to its two-theatre complex in downtown Houston.

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(L-R) John Tyson as Doctor Armstrong, Todd Waite as Philip Lombard, Josie de Guzman as Vera Claythorne, James Black as Judge Wargrave and David Rainey as Rogers in the Alley Theatre’s production of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None runs on the Alley Theatre’s Hubbard Stage June 29 through July 31, 2011. For more information visit www.alleytheatre.org. Photo by Jann Whaley.