Mask & Mirror Community Theatre will continue its Diamond Anniversary 15th Main Stage season with British playwright Agatha Christie’s award-winning hit The Mousetrap. Directed by Matt Russell, the classic murder mystery will take place on The Main Stage at Rise Church, 10445 Canterbury Lane, Tigard, from February 27 to March 15. Performance times for the three weekends are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2:30 p.m. Sundays.
Christie’s hugely popular whodunnit opened in London’s West End in 1952 and ran continuously until March 2020, when the Covid pandemic temporarily interrupted its run. Reopening in May 2021, it reached its 30,000 performance in March 2025, making The Mousetrap the longest-running play in history. As of 2022, the play had been seen by 10 million people in London alone. Each cast performs for a year, and then a new cast is selected for the next year, and so on.
After news of a local murder is heard on the radio, the audience is invited into the Monkswell Manor guest house, where an assortment of strangers arrive to escape a winter blizzard, becoming stranded. By the end of the first act, one of the guests becomes a second murder victim as “Three Blind Mice” is whistled in the background. The remainder of the play takes the audience on a twisted journey of suspicion, revenge, and the quest for justice until the final revelation at the end.
Russell’s seasoned cast bringing this labyrinthian murder mystery to life features Erin Bickler as the inexperienced proprietor Mollie Ralston, Shane Rudolph as her enigmatic husband Giles Ralston, Noah Keener as the hyperactive and peculiar Christopher Wren, Virginia Kincaid as the hypercritical Mrs. Boyle, Mark Putnam as the amiable ex-military Major Metcalf, Cassandra Brown as the strange and aloof Miss Casewell, Marc Berezin as the flamboyant unexpected guest Mr. Paravicini, and Adrian Rosales as Detective Sergeant Trotter.
No play can be produced without support behind the actors on stage. Russell’s experienced crew includes Jodi Johnson as Production Manager, John Knowles as Assistant Production Manager, Radha Mehrotra as Stage Manager, Glenn Russell as Assistant Director, Jodi Johnson as Costumer, Matt Russell as Set Designer, Cindy Zimmerman as Set Dresser, Dwayne Thurnau as Box Office, and John Knowles, John Bartholomew, and others as Set Construction. Prop mistress, light/sound design/operator, and other crew was not known at press time. John Knowles and his son Ian Knowles will compile the program, and Virginia Kincaid will edit it.
Russell enthusiastically states, “I am thrilled to be directing The Mousetrap at Mask & Mirror Community Theatre. Everyone loves a good whodunit, and especially one written by the queen of murder mysteries, Agatha Christie. This is not my first time directing Agatha Christie. In 1996, I directed her play, The Patient. I approached that play as a comedy, and while The Mousetrap isn’t a comedy, there is plenty of humor in it. The play is full of delightful, sympathetic, at times eccentric characters who make the audience want to follow them. I love my cast; I could not be any happier with their performance during rehearsals. I love directing; it is a pleasure like nothing else on earth. I am confident that audiences will love this riveting murder mystery!”
Mask & Mirror Community Theatre is a 501(c)3 non-profit performing company. Your support is very much appreciated. Additional information can be obtained by visiting www.maskandmirror.com.
