“The Stranger" at the Black Box Theatre -- March 14 through 23.
Friday, March 14, through Sunday, March 23
Black Box Theatre, 1623 Fifth Avenue, Moline IL
One of legendary mystery writer Agatha Christie's most spine-tingling yet infrequently produced tales will be given delightfully creepy stage life in the area debut of The Stranger, a radio-play version of Christie's chiller running at Moline's Black Box Theatre March 14 through 23.
An adaptation of Christie’s own short story Philomel Cottage, which was published in 1924, The Stranger was never published or performed in the author's lifetime, but has been reliably established as having been written at least by 1932. Telling of how the character Enid rejects her fiancé for newcomer Gerald and moves to a remote country cottage with him, only to encounter a dark and terrible secret, Christie's script was used together with the Philomel Cottage story as the basis for Frank Vosper's stage-play adaptation in 1936, a work titled Love from a Stranger. The Stranger itself remained unpublished and unperformed for a long time, but was eventually published by Samuel French in 2017. The chiller received its world premiere in the professional-theatre world when it was staged by iTheatre Saratoga, at the Riggi Theatre, in Saratoga, New York on January 25, 2019. The United Kingdom premiere, meanwhile, was on September 17, 2021 at the International Agatha Christie Festival, and following the success of last month's Dear Jack, Dear Louise, The Stranger is the second area premiere of the Black Box Theatre's 2025 season.
Serving as director and designer for The Stranger is Black Box co-founder and artistic director Lora Adams, whose recent presentations for her venue have included All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, Murder in the Studio, Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story, and the United States premiere of Florian Zeller's The Truth. Among Adams' six-person cast, three performers are making return appearances on the Moline stage: Storm Marie Baca (To Kill a Mockingbird), Dee Canfield (I Never Saw Another Butterfly), and James Driscoll (Dial M for Murder). Joining this trio in their Black Box debuts are gifted area actors Cole McFarren (the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's A Streetcar Named Desire), Jane Simonsen (the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's Exit Laughing), and Avalon Willowbloom (Genesius Guild's Medea). Adams stated, "“I am thrilled to have so many new faces in this show,”
The Stranger's radio-play presentation will be staged in Moline from March 14 through 23, with performances Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Admission is $18 for general seating in the intimate 60-seat venue, and more information and tickets are available at TheBlackBoxTheatre.com.
