HOUSTON — (Sept. 15, 2023) — Rice Theatre is bringing Agatha Christie’s longest-running play “The Mousetrap” to campus.
Audiences can partake in the action by picking up clues while following actors navigate a complex set in trying to solve this murder mystery.
After a local woman is murdered, the guests and staff at Monkswell Manor find themselves stranded during a snowstorm. It soon becomes clear that the killer is among them, and the seven strangers grow increasingly suspicious of one another. A police detective arriving on skis interrogates the suspects: the newlyweds running the house; a spinster with a curious background; an architect who seems better equipped to be a chef; a retired Army major; a strange little man who claims his car has overturned in a drift; and a jurist who makes life miserable for everyone.
When a second murder takes place, tensions and fears escalate. This record-breaking murder mystery features a brilliant surprise finish from Christie, the foremost mystery writer of her time.
The production will be directed by Skye Bronfenbrenner, a fight director, intimacy director, choreographer and actor who has worked with several institutions around Houston, such as Houston Grand Opera, Houston Shakespeare Festival, Stages, Rec Room Arts and Catastrophic Theatre as well as both the theater and music departments of the University of Houston and Rice. She has taught movement and stage combat at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, UH and Rice and is also a teaching artist with the Alley Theatre.
Mark Krouskop, lecturer and production manager for the Rice Theatre Program, is the set designer. Krouskop designed the outdoor set for Rice’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and the raining elevator for “Eurydice” as well as the set for last year’s production of “Pride and Prejudice.”
The costume design is by Heather Breikjern, lecturer and costume shop manager, who recently designed the Victorian world of “The Importance of Being Earnest” as well as Rice’s recent production of “Pride and Prejudice.”
Performances will take place on two weekends: Oct. 20-21 and Oct. 26-28 at 8 p.m. with a matinee at 2 p.m. Oct. 22. Tickets will be $5 for students, $8 for senior citizens and $10 for general admission. Performances are at Hamman Hall, entrance 21 off Rice Blvd. Tickets are available for reservation by emailing hamman@rice.edu. For more information, visit facebook.com/RiceTheatre or theatre.rice.edu or call the box office at 713-348-4005.
This news release can be found online at news.rice.edu.
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Related links:
Rice Theatre: theatre.rice.edu
Visitor parking information: parking.rice.edu/parking-facilities-and-rates
Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 4,052 undergraduates and 3,484 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 1 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.