10A • March 10, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
In ‘The
Mousetrap’
By Nancy McCarthy
For Cannon Beach Gazette
T
he Coaster Theatre Play-
house began its season
with not only the open-
ing of a new play, but a newly
remodeled space.
With new seats, curtains,
carpeting and paint, the Coast-
er is celebrating its 45th anni-
versary this year. The theater
was a dream realized by early
Cannon Beach builder Mau-
rie Clark, who purchased the
Waves Roller Rink and remod-
eled it in 1972.
The 180 seats installed in
the theater 45 years ago came
from Lincoln Hall at Portland
State University. Although
they were refurbished at least
once during the past four de-
cades, the seats needed repairs,
and parts were no longer avail-
able, said Patrick Lathrop, the
theater’s executive director.
The new seats are dark brown
and black with gold tones.
Gold velvet curtains re-
placed the red, water-stained
stage and side curtains, and
carpeting in shades of tan and
chocolate has been installed.
“We tried to take the natural
wood in the walls of the the-
ater and bring out its warmth,”
Lathrop said.
Lathrop also is excited
about the mural that will be
painted on the theater’s back
wall. Against a dark green
background will be a menag-
erie of gold animals familiar
to the North Coast — elk, deer,
salmon and even a bunny or
two romping in leaves.
The theater’s 45th anniver-
sary also is being celebrated
by bringing back some of the
plays that proved popular in
previous years. They include
“Barefoot in the Park,” “Steel
Magnolias,” “Clue: the Musi-
cal,” “Blithe Spirit” and, what
was the Coaster’s tradition
for many years, “A Christmas
Carol.”
Opening the season is Ag-
atha Christie’s “The Mouse-
trap,” which first opened in
London in 1952 and has run
almost continuously since
then. The play will run at the
Coaster through April 15.
Lon time North Coast direc-
tor Susi Brown attributes the
play’s popularity to its play-
wright. Agatha Christie, said
Brown, created characters who
are familiar to her audiences.
“People can see themselves
in her plays or in her books,”
Brown said. “She’s quite the
trickster, and people like to be
surprised.”
In “The Mousetrap,” a
group of strangers is stranded
in a guest house run by newly
married couple. When a mur-
der occurs, suspicion is cast
on everyone there: a spinster
with a curious background, an
architect who enjoys cooking,
a cranky jurist, a retired army
major and an uninvited guest
whose car overturned in a
snow storm. It’s up to a police
sergeant, who skis to the man-
or, to find the killer who whis-
tles “Three Blind Mice.”
Since she was asked to di-
rect the play, Brown has been
sleuthing for clues herself,
cleverly played out in Chris-
tie’s script through the actors’
movements and dialogue. It
has been fun, she said. “I like
mysteries.”
A frequent director at the
former River Theater and own-
er of the former Pier Pressure
Productions in Astoria, Brown
approaches the play academi-
cally, probably due to 27 years
of teaching literature, theater,
speech, dance and art in the
Knappa School District. She
also has a master’s of fine arts
degree in theater direction.
SUBMITTED PHOTO BY GEORGE VETTER/CANNON-BEACH.NET
As with any murder mystery, everyone in “The Mousetrap” has a secret, and Detective Sergeant Trotter is trying to de-
termine what those secrets are. From left, are Mrs. Boyle (Toni Ihander), Mollie Ralston (Emily Dante), Trotter (David
Sweeney), Mr. Paravicini (Don Conner), Giles Ralston (William Ham), Miss Casewell (Heather Neuwirth), Major Metcalf
(Frank Jagodnik) and Christopher Wren (Tim Garvin). Not pictured is Richard Bowman, who also plays Christopher Wren.
PHOTO BY NANCY MCCARTHY
Mollie Ralston (Emily Dante) has a heart-to-heart talk with
her guest, Christopher Wren (Richard Bowman), who is
feeling insecure.
She read the play at least
five times and wrote notes on it
before casting it. She also con-
sulted a stack of books about
“The Mousetrap” and Agatha
Christie.
Although she directed the
play at Knappa High School
and saw performances of it
in London and again in Asto-
ria, Brown still had “tons of
questions” about Christie’s
intention. “There were a lot of
details,” Brown said. “I had to
ask, ‘Why is that happening?’”
While she prepares herself
thoroughly as a director, Brown
still wants her cast to bring their
own insight into the characters
they play. Her cast includes
actors ranging from Nehalem
to Washington’s Long Beach
Peninsula. All have appeared
on the Coaster stage before.
Uppermost in her mind is
maintaining the surprise for the
audience. To do that, the actors
must get “underneath” their
characters’ multi-dimensional
personalities so their respons-
es to each other are natural
onstage and contribute to the
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Walk in the station at 14th and Exchange, Astoria
story being told, Brown said.
The audience, then, can enjoy
picking up clues of its own.
The cast members — both
the seasoned and those who
are less experienced — have
absorbed the personalities
Christie developed. They will
keep the audience interested
— and guessing — until the
big reveal, Brown said.
Brown literally wears the
play on her collar at every
rehearsal: She attaches three
mouse pins on her jacket or
blouse. Her mother also col-
lected mouse pins. “I would
be completely unnerved if I
showed up one day without a
mouse,” Brown said.
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PHOTO BY NANCY MCCARTHY
Heather Neuwirth, as Miss Casewell, dances to the “Flight
of the Bumblebee,” to annoy the cranky Mrs. Boyle, played
by Toni Ihander in the murder mystery “The Mousetrap,”
opening March 3 at the Coaster Theatre in Cannon Beach.
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