Chadron State College presents Hitchcock farce, "The 39 Steps"

2015 Apr 10

The Chadron State College theatre department is producing an adaptation of the play "the 39 Steps. It will be performed April 16-18 at 7:30 p.m. and April 19 at 2 p.m. in Memorial Hall's Black Box Theatre. The play was originally a 1915 novel by John Buchan. In 1935, director Alfred Hitchcock turned the novel into a thriller film. In 2006, playwright Patrick Barlow adapted the movie into a farce using a four-actor version of the story.

The original concept and production of a four-actor version of the story was created by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon. One actor plays the lead role, an actress - or sometimes actor - plays the three women with whom he has romantic entanglements, and two other actors play every other character in the show including heroes, villains, men, women, children and even the occasional inanimate object.

Derek Phelps, of Sidney, Neb., is playing Richard Hannay; Hannah Clark, of Littleton, Colo., is playing Annabellla Schmidt, Margaret, and Pamela; Wacey Gallegos, of Ainsworth, Neb., is playing Clown No. 1 and Everyone Else; and Samuel T. Martin, of Hot Springs, S.D., is playing Clown No. 2 and Everyone Else. Interviews with the actors in "Behind the Scenes" can be seen online.

The plot is about a man trying to help a counter-espionage agent prevent group of spies called "The 39 Steps" from stealing top secret documents. When the counter-espionage agent is killed, he stands accused of the murder and goes on the run to save himself and attempt to stop the spy ring.