The Theatre of Western Springs

Cast (in order of appearance)
Greg Sanderson, Clark Schirle
Jan Sanderson, Donna Marie Kanak
George Willowby, Bill Redding
Laura Sanderson, Liz Steele

Dramaturg's Diary
By Mike Huth
The stage and murder mysteries have been partners for a long time. The high technology of film and television may have raised expectations in viewers, but a well-crafted story with equally well-crafted effects will keep suspense high on stage as well, with a far more realistic feeling that you are really there.
I’ll be Back Before Midnight is only the second play in Canadian author Peter Colley’s long writing career. First produced in 1979 at the Blyth Festival in Canada, it is returning to that festival this year—a festival that rarely repeats a play. In its twenty–six years, the play has become the most produced play in Canada, and has been seen in nearly every US state and 24 countries, in many of the most prestigious playhouses. It is currently on a UK national tour.
More recently Colley’s Stolen Lives, a play based on the true story of fugitive financier Albert Walker, premiered again at Blyth (2000), and has been hailed as a compelling portrayal of a master of deceit and deception.

Colley admits setting out with a bit of a formulaic approach to creating I’ll be Back Before Midnight — fragile wife, old house in an isolated rural setting, ghost tales and storms. It is his skill at twisting the story over and over again, however, which leaves us guessing.
With scenes of comic relief interspersed with suspense, your heart rate will be on a roller-coaster ride. That writing skill carried Colley on into dozens of other works; stage plays, film scripts, television programs and several books. His work has won many awards including the 2001 Harold Greenburg Screenwriting Award (for Stolen Lives) and 2000 Humanities Award for screenwriting.
It is not typical in theatre audiences to introduce yourself to those seated about you, but perhaps for this play you might do so before curtain time. There is a fair probability that at several gripping points in the production, you may inadvertently grab their arm, kick their seat or otherwise make yourself known. Such is the skill of Colley’s
playwriting — don’t say you weren’t warned.

Although this play was refashioned into a movie script in 1992, the little-known Illusions fails to carry the same impact as the play. The difficult-to-find video is not worth the search.
In this story, Greg Sanderson is an archeologist of sorts. He is out in the countryside looking for “flints.” What he is referring to are tools and weapons made by pre-metal man from the mineral commonly called flint.
It is a glass-like rock with a characteristic of chipping in sharp chards, leaving a very sharp, hard edge. By repeatedly taking chips off a rough piece, a tool or weapon of a particular shape can be made. The process is as much an art as a science, something we commonly call flint-knapping today. The “contraption” Greg has put together is presumably to study the chipping/fracturing characteristics of the flint material. The early native tribes of North America knew all about shaping flint — without it they would have had no scraping and cutting tools and no arrowheads. A piece of moose or elk antler was their typical “chisel” to shape the stone. As Greg digs through a quarry in search of ancient flints, it is what else he finds that spins this story out of control.

Director's Corner
By Jack Phillips
Mysteries have intrigued us for years. Popular culture is now filled with mysteries. Many people love to watch and try to solve the puzzles presented by the stories on CSI or the various versions of LAW AND ORDER. Just as radio drama brought murder and mayhem into our living rooms, television and movies let us see what’s happening.
Today we produce for you a good old-fashioned scary story. There is a puzzle to be solved. We very soon think we know what is happening but the real question is “Who is doing it?” Things may not always be as they seem, but we promise you we haven’t cheated. The answers are all here. Can you figure it out?
This production is filled with scary sounds and sights. These effects are very hard to create in live theatre. TWS is fortunate to have on staff a professional designer, Lee Brasuell. Lee‘s skill creates the magic that takes place tonight and his design creates the atmosphere exactly right for us to tell the story.

Acknowledgements

Produced by special arrangement with Baker’s Plays.

We are grateful to The Fruit Store, Western Springs and Hinsdale, for providing apple cider at cost with free delivery.

We would also like to thank Thurrel Jeffries for the loan of certain props.

The photographs illustrating this program are from the theatre’s archives.

Acknowledgements

Production Credits