THE CAINE MUTINY COURT-MARTIAL at Judson Theatre Company in April

Judson Theatre Company’s spring production (April 24-27, 2025) will be Herman Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. Directed by JTC’s artistic director Daniel Haley, it marks the return of Emmy Award winner John Wesley Shipp (The Flash, Dawson’s Creek) to the Judson stage in the iconic role of Captain Queeg. He was last on our stage in 2016(!) in Twelve Angry Men. Joining him will be David A. Gregory (One Life to Live, The Good Fight) as Greenwald.

Logo design for Judson Theatre Company by Jacob Rivera-Sanchez

We’re also happy to welcome back some JTC favorites: Jacob Pressley in his first mainstage show; he’s previously been our leading man in the Summer Theatre Festival productions of They’re Playing Our Song, The Last Five Years, and Gutenberg! The Musical. Matthew Tyler will be back for his fifth mainstage show, having been seen in And Then There Were None, Witness for the Prosecution, The Mousetrap, and Gaslight. After a multi-year absence from our stage, we will also welcome Rick McDermott back; he’s appeared in more shows at JTC than any other actor: Twelve Angry Men, And Then There Were None, The Sunshine Boys, The Miracle Worker, and Witness for the Prosecution.

Making their JTC debuts are Collin Conway, Colton Liberatore, and Thomas Nash Tetterton. Additional casting to be announced at a later date.

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial is Judson Theatre Company’s first military play—we’ve long wanted to do one, we keep a spreadsheet of them, and JTC is now prepared to meet the unique challenges of doing one well. What’s interesting is that the piece has had at least one major iteration in every generation:

Original novel jacket

1951 - the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, at the time, the biggest bestseller since Gone With the Wind, spending 122 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, with 33 weeks at #1

Flyer for Broadway production, this theatre is now named the Schoenfeld Theatre.

1953 - the play opens in LA and tours, and then debuts on Broadway in 1954…months before the release of the Columbia film version of the novel. The play is an immediate hit, running a year (415 performances). Starring Henry Fonda, Lloyd Nolan, and John Hodiak, and directed by Charles Laughton on Broadway, the play continued to tour in 1955 with other stars including Paul Douglas, Wendell Corey, and Barry Sullivan.

Poster from 1954 film version of the novel

1954 - the first film version of the story (a film version of the novel) starring Humphrey Bogart (Oscar nominated for his performance as Queeg), Jose Ferrer, Van Johnson, and Fred MacMurray

1955 - the Ford Star Jubilee television spectacular presentation of the play, with members of the cast of the first Broadway production: Lloyd Nolan won an Emmy for reprising his Broadway performance as Queeg.

1956 - Lloyd Nolan directed and starred in the original London production

1959 - Australian tv version

Joe Namath and Michael Moriarty in the 1983 Broadway revival

1983 - the first Broadway revival, at Circle in the Square ran from May-November, starring John Rubinstein and Michael Moriarty. Later in the run, Joe Namath played Maryk (his only Broadway credit).

London revival window card

1984 - Charlton Heston directed and starred in a production that played Los Angeles, London, and the Kennedy Center.

Advertisement for Robert Altman made-for-tv film of the play

1988 - the Robert Altman made-for-tv version, starring Eric Bogosian, Jeff Daniels, Brad Davis, and Peter Gallagher

2nd Playbill cover of the 2006 Broadway revival

2006 - the second Broadway revival, starring David Schwimmer and Tim Daly and directed by Jerry Zaks

Advertisement and key art for 2023 David Friedkin film version of the play

2023 - the David Friedkin film version of the play (his final film) starring Kiefer Sutherland and Lance Reddick, which moves the time period to post-9/11

Join us at BPAC’s Owens Auditorium in Pinehurst, NC to see this classic military play brought to life! Click here for tickets.

MURDER ON THE NILE begins rehearsal

I realized at the read through of Judson Theatre Company’s Murder on the Nile that I’ve produced and/or directed eight mystery/suspense plays over the past nine years (2015-24). The five I produced were at Judson Theatre Company: And Then There Were None, Witness for the Prosecution, The Mousetrap, Gaslight, and Murder on the Nile. The three I directed were at Millbrook Playhouse: Dial ‘M’ for Murder, Wait Until Dark, and Deathtrap.

What’s so special about that? Well…it’s this odd dichotomy: regional and stock audiences are still glad to get a regular diet of these shows, though they’ve all but disappeared from Broadway, and no one’s writing new ones that get produced on a Broadway scale. Off the top of my head, the only two I can recall attending on Broadway in over two decades as a New Yorker are revivals of Night Must Fall (with Matthew Broderick) and Wait Until Dark (with Marisa Tomei and Quentin Tarentino). And that’s a shame, because they satisfy an audience like no other genre. Would a modern audience pay Broadway prices to see a thriller done properly?

When I’m in the director’s chair for one of these plays, I nearly always use the old maxim “the actor must know everything so the character can know nothing.” While one must always work from the inside —> out on the emotional aspect of a role, it’s very often worthwhile to take one good pass at the script of a mystery/suspense play from the outside —> in, to be sure the audience gets the rollercoaster ride the author intends. At what points in the script do these values occur?

—Mystery: literally, “whodunit”, or some other unknown piece of major information that turns the plot once revealed.

—Suspense: a quality of withholding and foreboding. Something’s about to happen…but when? A “haunted house” feeling.

—Suspicion: this is particular to a multiple-suspect whodunit. Did they do it? The character knows whether or not they committed the crime at hand; but does the author intend for the audience to suspect them (whether they did it or not) at any moment in the play? It’s the actor’s job to make sure the Red Herrings register but still ring true and make sense in the end.

—Tension: happens between characters, or can be the result of an external force like a ticking clock or being trapped, like the characters in And Then There Were None when they start to turn on each other.

—Surprise: Boo! A jump scare, a plot twist that comes quickly with no foreshadowing. The rapid unreeling of the quadruple twist at the end of Witness for the Prosecution is one of the most thrilling examples (though some of them are foreshadowed if you listen to the dialogue carefully). And Wait Until Dark has two very famous jump scares.

—Pursuit: Though more common in television, this quality happens onstage too, usually when it’s been made clear who the villain/murderer is and we watch the detective/hero hone in on their capture. This quality can also happen for the audience when they watch the detective/hero formulating their plan.

PineStraw Magazine on JSTF 2024 and more...

Conventional theatre wisdom is that it’s during year three of a venture when you really know if your work is taking hold…and it’s true.

The third year of Judson Theatre Company’s Summer Theatre Festival is selling well, attracting more groups than ever, and we’re so pleased and humbled by the Sandhills area’s embrace of the concept and the programming of the festival…and of course, the support.

Two of the best ways to show support for a not-for-profit theatre company like Judson are a) show up (and bring friends) and b) donate.

This feature by Jenna Biter in PineStraw captures the essence of the Summer Theatre Festival perfectly. Join us for They’re Playing Our Song, Mrs. Mannerly, and Tell Me on a Sunday. Click here for tickets.

JTC Summer Theatre Festival 2024: Year 3 is here!

In the blink of an eye, Judson Theatre Company’s Summer Theatre Festival is about to enter its third year. It feels like we started the festival just yesterday. This season was actually easy to program: with two seasons behind us, Artistic Director Daniel Haley and I know better than ever exactly what we want the mix of shows each season to be. Daniel and I were excited about the same short list of shows, and then all we had to do was pick three and put them in order.

We’ll open with They’re Playing Our Song. It’s the Neil Simon-Marvin Hamlisch-Carol Bayer Sager smash hit that has been making audiences happy since it began its long Broadway run in 1979. It runs July 19-28 in Bradshaw Performing Arts Center’s McPherson Theater. Click here for tickets.

Linda Purl (The Office, Happy Days, Matlock) returns to JTC in the second show Jeffrey Hatcher’s delicious comedy Mrs. Mannerly, also starring Jordan Ahnquist (Shear Madness). It’s about a small-town etiquette teacher with a past and a young student whose life she changes for the better. It runs August 2-11. Click here for tickets.

The festival will conclude with JTC’s first Andrew Lloyd Webber show, Tell Me on a Sunday, an intimate, lovely musical about an English girl who moves to New York to make her way in the world. It runs August 16-25. Click here for tickets.

All in all, it’s definitely a summer to look forward to—join us: JudsonTheatre.com

BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE triumphs at Judson Theatre Company

What a happy time we had doing Butterflies are Free at Judson Theatre Company, March 7-10, 2024. After a while, you do a lot of shows, and your first wish when the next one comes along is twofold: a great script and a talented, professional, hardworking cast…everything else will usually work out if you have that. And we did, led by Morgan Fairchild. She brought heart, elegance, and impeccable timing to the role of Florence Baker. And she’s a complete delight to work with—the total professional.

I’d known Stephen Shore for years, but this was the first time the stars aligned for us to work together. He anchored the show with an excellent leading-man performance as Don Baker that made you really care about what happened to him, without losing any of the comedy. Talented, hardworking, prepared, professional—the kind of actor who is a pleasure to direct. Morgan-Ellene Davis captured all of Jill Tanner’s qualities. The role is a tricky mix of heart and humor and quirkiness, and her beautiful light shone through every scene she was in. Cedric Gegel played Ralph Austin and he, too, knew just what to do with a role that doesn’t have a ton of stage time but still has to make an impression and be fleshed out with a detailed characterization.

From the outset, I had resisted directing on JTC’s mainstage—being Executive Producer is a full-time job when we are in production. When I’m directing at other theatres, all I have to do is direct the play. Nonetheless, I agreed to direct Butterflies are Free because I knew the playwright, Leonard Gershe. It was a personal dream come true to honor his memory with this production and to see the play work like gangbusters (it always has).

I’ll always be grateful to everyone who worked on Butterflies are Free for collaborating on an excellent production and some wonderful memories. Thank you to everyone who took the time to see it.

Morgan Fairchild as Florence Baker and Stephen Shore as Don Baker in Judson Theatre Company’s Butterflies are Free (photo: David Sinclair Photography)

Morgan-Ellene Davis as Jill Tanner and Stephen Shore as Don Baker in Judson Theatre Company’s Butterflies are Free (photo: David Sinclair Photography)

Cedric Gegel as Ralph Austin and Morgan-Ellene Davis as Jill Tanner in Butterflies are Free at Judson Theatre Company (photo: David Sinclair Photography)