MOLINE, ILLINOIS (March 5, 2025) — The intimate Black Box Theatre in Downtown Moline presentsAgatha Christie’s The Stranger opening on March 14.
The show features Jane Simonsen, James Driscoll, Cole McFarren, Avalon Willowbloom, Storm Marie Baca and Dee Canfield. Directed and designed by The Black Box Artistic Director, Lora Adams. “I am thrilled to have so many new faces in this show,” said Adams.
The Stranger is an adaptation of Christie’s own short story Philomel Cottage, which was published in 1924. The play was never published or performed in Christie's lifetime, but has been reliably established as having been written at least by 1932.
The play script was used together with the short story Philomel Cottage as the basis for the stage-play adaptation made by Frank Vosper in 1936 entitled Love from a Stranger.
The Stranger remained unpublished and unperformed for a long time but was published by Samuel French in 2017. It received its world premiere in the professional theatre world when it was staged by iTheatre Saratoga, at the Riggi Theatre, Saratoga, New York on January 25, 2019. The UK premiere was on September 17, 2021 at the International Agatha Christie Festival. The Stranger is the second area premiere of the 2025 Black Box Theatre season.
The show runs March 14, 15, 20, 21, 22 at 7:30 pm and March 16 and 23, 2PM. Tickets are $18 with general seating in the intimate sixty-seat theatre. Tickets may be purchased at theblackboxtheatre.com or at the door. A portion of the 2025 season is supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council.
