Syracuse, NY – A talented cast including Kate Hamill and Jason O’Connell touches off cascades of comedy as Syracuse Stage presents “The Play That Goes Wrong” April 13 – May 1. Tickets are on sale now at www.syracusestage.org or 315-443-3275.
Since its premiere in 2012, this popular play-within-a play farce has delighted audiences in 35 countries world-wide. It is currently running off-Broadway, in London’s West End, and on a national tour. Syracuse Stage is among the first regional theaters to mount its own production with Artistic Director Robert Hupp at the helm as the show’s director.
Hamill and O’Connell have appeared numerous times at Syracuse Stage in the past few seasons. They first worked together at Stage in Hamill’s adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice” (2019), which O’Connell directed and in which Hamill played two roles. Hamill also appeared in “Noises Off” (2018) and they appeared together in the on-line only “Talley’s Folly” (2020).
In addition, O’Connell had the distinction of appearing in Stage’s final pre-Covid live production, as Salieri in “Amadeus,” and also in the first return to live performance production, as Don in this season’s opener “Eureka Day.”
Other cast members, too, will be familiar. “The Play That Goes Wrong” marks the fifth appearance at Stage for Seth Andrew Bridges. Bridges previously appeared in “Great Expectations” (2016), “The Three Musketeers” (2017), “Noises Off” (2018)—he took the nosedive down the stairs—and most recently in “12 Angry Men” (2019) as the foreman of the jury. Blake Segal makes his fourth appearance having recently been seen in “Matilda the Musical” and previously in “Amadeus” and “Noises Off.”
Angie Janas played Lizzy Bennet in “Pride and Prejudice” and Rishan Dhamija was Raj in this season’s production of “Yoga Play.” While Shabazz Green and John Tufts are new to Stage, each has substantial New York and regional theater credits.
“Pulling off the comic and physical hijinks of ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ requires a special kind of actor and I am fortunate to work with a dream cast on this production,” said Hupp. “Their inventiveness and creativity enhance every rehearsal and their love for the work shines through in every performance.”
“The Play That Goes Wrong” is built on fast-paced physical comedy as the members of the Cornley Drama Society attempt to perform a 1920s murder mystery only to have it all go horribly and hilariously wrong. Lines are lost, corpses won’t stay put and the set is a clockwork of malfunction. Another Stage veteran, Czerton Lim (“Matilda the Musical,” “Talley’s Folly,” “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” and “Elf the Musical”) designed “The Play That Goes Wrong” set and worked with technical director Randall Steffen and props designer Mara Rich to create a self-destructing Haversham Manor for the cast.
“Our approach to this design was to treat the set itself as a living, breathing character with—filled with its own distinct personality, contradictions, eccentricities and ‘human’ foibles, trying to do its best with the situation it finds itself with the actors onstage,” Lim said. “In fact, I believe the set ‘thinks’ it is the actors onstage mucking things up badly, while also finding itself guilty of the occasional attention-grabbing stunt to garner the audiences’ favor and applause.”
Costume designer Suzanne Chesney, lighting designer Matt Webb and sound designer Jacqueline R. Herter complete the creative team, and fight choreographer Christopher DuVal sets the stunts and physical work.
With warm weather returning and days growing noticeably longer, “The Play That Goes Wrong” is a great opportunity to get out and simply have some fun. It is laughter for the sheer joy of laughter.
“Since I saw this play on Broadway five years ago, I knew I wanted it to be part of a Syracuse Stage season,” added Hupp. “Sometimes the cure for what ails us is just a fun night out full of laughter and silliness, and in that world, ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ delivers like no other play I’ve seen.”
Syracuse Stage Covid-19 Safety Guidelines
Masks are required at all times by everyone regardless of vaccination status, except while eating or drinking in designated areas. Food and drink will not be permitted in the auditorium. Syracuse Stage will no longer check for vaccination or negative test status.
“The Play that Goes Wrong”
By Henry Lewis, Henry Shields and Jonathan Sayer
Directed by Robert Hupp
Scenic design by Czerton Lim
Costume design by Suzanne Chesney
Lighting design by Matthew Webb
Sound design by Jacqueline R. Herter
Properties design by Mara Rich
Fight choreography by Christopher DuVal
Dialect Coach: Celia Madeoy
Production Stage Manager: Stuart Plymesser*
Casting: Bass/Valle Casting
Special Events
April 13
M&T Bank Pay-What-You-Will Performance @ 7:30 p.m.
There will be 76 tickets available for whatever price patrons wish to pay. Pay-what-you-will tickets must be claimed in person at the Box Office or by phone on the day of the performance, subject to availability. The Box Office opens at 10 a.m. and will remain open until the start of the show. There is a limit of four tickets per person.
April 17
Prologue at 1 p.m. (free for ticket holders at 2 p.m. performance)
A pre-show discussion with Syracuse Stage artistic director and “The Play that Goes Wrong” director Robert Hupp one hour prior to curtain. Prologues will be held in the Archbold Theatre.
April 20
Wednesday @ 1 (free for ticket holders at 2 p.m. performance)
Join Chris Woodworth for an in-person lecture, “The Historiography of Failure: What do we learn when the play goes wrong?
Woodworth, Associate Professor of Theatre at Hobart & William Smith Colleges and coeditor of “Working in the Wings: New Perspectives on Theatre History and Labor,” will explore a series of theatrical mistakes, glitches and disasters to uncover historiographical goldmines and vexing questions. Her scholarship has appeared in “Theatre Symposium,” “Theatre History Studies,” “Theatre Annual” and several edited collections. Her most recent work is a public history project, exploring the 127-year old Smith Opera House in Geneva, New York through history tours, blog posts, community-based site-specific performances and a YouTube series. In addition to her scholarly work, she is a director and playwright.
The Wednesday @ 1 lecture will be held in the Archbold Theatre.
April 20
Open Captioning at 2 p.m. Performance for patrons who are deaf or hard of hearing.
April 23
Prologue at 1 p.m. (free for ticket holders)
A pre-show discussion with Syracuse Stage artistic director and “The Play that Goes Wrong” director Robert Hupp one hour prior to curtain. Prologues will be held in the Archbold Theatre.
April 23
ASL Interpreted Performance at 2 p.m. for patrons who are deaf or hard of hearing.
April 24
Actor Talkback (free for ticket holders at 7:30 p.m. performance)
A Q&A session with the actors following the 7:30 p.m. performance. The talkback will be held in the Archbold Theatre.
April 28
Prologue at 6:30 p.m. (free for ticket holders)
A pre-show discussion with Syracuse Stage artistic director and “The Play that Goes Wrong” director Robert Hupp one hour prior to curtain. Prologues will be held in the Archbold Theatre.
April 30
Audio Described Performance at 2 p.m. for patrons who are blind or visually impaired.
April 30
Open Captioning at 7:30 p.m. performance for patrons who are deaf or hard of hearing.
May 1
Open Captioning at 2 p.m. performance for patrons who are deaf or hard of hearing.
