Actors and production staff at Evergreen Playhouse will premiere live performances of “Prescription: MURDER — A Columbo Mystery” starting this weekend at the Centralia theater.
The show will run through the next two weekends.
The production is the first of six plays and musicals scheduled for Evergreen Playhouse’s 67th season running through June 2027.
Originally written by William Link and Richard Levinson, Evergreen Playhouse Director Dodi Forgione decided to bring “Prescription: MURDER,” starring Link and Levinson’s iconic detective Columbo, to Evergreen Playhouse’s stage as, despite first premiering in the 1960s, some things have changed since Columbo’s time, but other things haven’t.
Link and Levinson were inspired to create the Columbo character by Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” character Porfiry Petrovich and Gilbert K. Chesterton’s mystery story anthology priest-detective character Father Brown, according to a 1981 American Film magazine interview.
After Columbo’s 1960 debut on TV in NBC’s “The Chevy Mystery Show,” they adapted the television drama into the stage play “Prescription: Murder,” first performed in 1962. Following the stage play’s success, the play was adapted into a full-length TV movie. Columbo returned to NBC in 1968, sparking a successful television show run starring Peter Falk, winning multiple Emmy and Golden Globe awards.
“In his world, Columbo could enter an apartment and access personal information in ways that would raise serious concerns today. The play was written before HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and modern expectations around patient privacy, reminding us how differently these situations might be viewed today,” Forgione said in the play program director’s note. “At the heart of the story is a person in a position of power who takes advantage of a vulnerable patient and uses that relationship for his own purposes. I wish I could say these abuses of power and attempts to avoid accountability are things of the past, but, unfortunately, we still see examples of them today. The circumstances may look different, but the patterns are awfully familiar. Even though we come to the theater to be entertained, I hope you see the message behind today’s show. Maybe we can all stand to be a little more like Columbo: willing to pull at the loose ends, ask uncomfortable questions, and keep looking when something doesn’t quite add up.”
The show is also Forgione’s directorial debut.
The cast includes:
• Jeff Eisel as Lieutenant Columbo
• Jacqueline Scolaro as Miss Petrie
• Xane Burns as Dr. Roy Flemming
• Nicole Galyean as Claire Flemming
• Andrea Gordon as Susan Hudson
• Justin Hazlett as the Delivery Boy
• Zachary Huffman as Dave Gordon
Joining Forgione on the production crew are Janelle Lunzman, Shari Blackwell, Olivia Chaney, Isaac McKenziesullivan, Nathaniel McKenziesullivan, Mark Pendleton, Theresa McKenziesullivan, Danielle Kays, Malyssah Halderman, Malcolm Halderman and Kathy Dorgan.
Shows begin at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays, Oct. 9, 16 and 23, and Saturdays, Oct. 10, 17 and 24. Sunday matinee performances begin at 2 p.m on Oct. 11, 18 and 25.
Tickets are $17 for adults and $14 for students and seniors. A special “pay-what-you-can” performance will also be held on Thursday, Oct. 15, at 7:30 p.m.
The Evergreen Playhouse is located at 226 W. Center St. in Centralia.
To purchase tickets for the weekend shows or reserve a seat at the “pay what you can” performance, visit Evergreen Playhouse’s website at https://tinyurl.com/mv5bwket.
Sponsors of the Evergreen Playhouse include Rectangle Gallery & Creative Space, Hubbub, Book ’n’ Brush, Bob Holland Insurance, Thunder Autosound, Access Security Inc., Affordable Lawn Care, D Best Adventures, Designs by Danielle, Dick’s Brewing Company, O’Blarney’s at the Gibson House, the Mano, Paroutaud, Groberg & Ricks law firm, Olympia Little Theater and PostNet Centralia.
For more information, read the “Prescription: MURDER” digital program at Evergreen Playhouse’s website at https://evergreenplayhouse.com/programs.
