By Ellen Chappelle

Edmonds’ own Driftwood Players recently announced the shows on tap for the Mainstage this coming year, the company’s 53rd season.

A Murder is Announced

For those who enjoy mystery and thrillers in the old-world style of Agatha Christie, this production will be a treat. Christie, the world’s bestselling author and the most popular mystery writer of all time, wrote a series of mysteries with the clever Miss Marple as her key crime solver. Marple is a cunning 70-something old-maid who, despite her knitting and docile demeanor, is astute and as sharp as a tack when it comes to solving murders.

The local paper of a small village in England runs an ad announcing a murder. Several curious townspeople congregate to witness this alleged murder and when one actually occurs, everyone becomes a suspect. Between the Chief Inspector and the clever Miss Marple the mystery unravels, but not without consequences.

The King & I
It’s East versus West in a dramatic, uplifting love story, set to music by Rodgers and Hammerstein. When summoned to Bangkok’s Royal Palace in 1862 to tutor the many children and wives of the King of Siam, English widow Anna struggles with the King’s barbaric behavior. Over time, however, the two come to understand, respect and even embrace one another’s traditions and values.

The lavish score features show-stopping songs including “Getting to Know You,” “Hello Young Lovers” and “Shall We Dance?”

MASH



Set during the Korean War, M*A*S*H is a black comedy about life in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital unit located only three miles from the front lines.

The primary mission of the MASH unit is to provide immediate medical treatment to Americans wounded in combat and the young surgeons are often up to their elbows in blood and guts for long periods of time. But when they’re off duty, the MASH unit personnel keep their sanity by pursuing a wacky, irreverent lifestyle that leads to some hilarious adventures. Fans of the TV series of the same name will surely enjoy this play.

Harvey

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Harvey” is the comedic story of a likeable man and his imaginary friend Harvey, a 6-foot-tall rabbit.  As Elwood P. Dowd starts to introduce his imaginary friend to guests at a society party, his sister Veta decides that has seen as much of his eccentric behavior as she can tolerate. She plans to have him committed to a sanitarium to spare her family from future embarrassment.

When they arrive at the sanitarium, the doctors mistakenly commit Veta instead of Elwood. But when the truth comes out, the search is on for Elwood and his invisible companion.

No Sex Please
This lively play tells the story of a young bride who lives above a bank with her husband, who serves as the bank’s assistant manager. Innocently, she places an order for some Scandinavian glassware. What arrives instead is Scandinavian pornography.

The plot centers on the conundrum of how best to dispose of the veritable floods of pornographic photographs, books, films – and eventually girls – that threaten to engulf and destroy this happy couple’s marriage. The matter is considerably complicated by the man’s mother, his boss, a visiting bank inspector, a police superintendent and a muddled friend who does everything wrong in his reluctant efforts to set everything right, all of which works up to an ending with closed or slamming doors.

For more on the upcoming season, please visit Driftwood Players’ website. To learn more about what goes on behind the scenes, please read our interview with Board of Directors member Roger Huston.