PAUL BARNES
The challenge of bringing Deathtrap to life on stage is to never let the audience get ahead of the story, to be able to separate what I know from what the audience needs to know (or not know), and to practice the magician’s trick of getting people to look over here while something else is happening over there. life in neighboring Wilton, a small town adjacent to Westport, where Deathtrap takes place. It has been a great deal of fun to revisit my East Coast roots as I’ve prepared to direct this production; almost as much fun as it has been to plot and become co-conspirators with my design team and to rehearse
with this lovely and very game cast of actors. I hope our work fulfills the thrills and chills Ira Levin so cleverly intended when he wrote the play, and that Deathtrap provides audiences with that roller-coaster ride sense of risk and surprise, from which everyone emerges safe, sound, and in one piece at
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journey’s end – perhaps a little shaken, but not much the worse for wear. It is a pleasure to return to Syracuse Stage to direct; all the more so to be a part of Bob Hupp’s first season as the Stage’s new artistic leader. PAUL BARNES GUEST DIRECTOR