About the Play:

A Party to Murder is a full-length comedy-thriller by Marcia Kash and Douglas E. Hughes. Six people have been secretly invited to a Halloween murder mystery party. They appear set for a weekend of harmless fun, until their stay opens up a 25-year-old unsolved mystery. A Party to Murder is an Agatha Christie-style whodunnit full of twists and surprises right up to the final line.

A Party to Murder brings a group of six socialites together for a quaint murder mystery dinner. Agatha Christie's portrait sits over the fireplace in the living room of a rustic island cottage where six people have come in secret on Halloween to play a murder-mystery game hosted by mystery writer Charles Prince. They appear to be set for a weekend of fun, but when ghosts from the past begin to haunt them, it becomes clear that all is not as it seems. The game takes on a sinister dimension as guests start to turn up dead and the players realize that they may in fact be playing for their lives. As the tension rises, secret passages, hidden bodies and a twenty-five year old mystery all twist and turn together – leading to an unexpected and terrifying ending. A Party to Murder is a thrilling murder mystery that is full of crafty mayhem in the classic Agatha Christie fashion.

A Party to Murder premiered in 1996 at Kawartha Summer Theatre in Lindsay, Ontario. It was subsequently produced at the Ensemble Theatre in Cincinnati that same year, and has since been produced dozens of times in Canada, the United States and the U.K – where it toured in 2006. It remains a popular choice for high school and community theatre productions.

Cast: 3 female, 3 male

What people say:

"I have rarely sat in a theatre with a feeling almost akin to the hairs rising on the back of my neck, but Act 1 of Marcia Kash's and Douglas Hughes' thriller had that effect on me and, I suspect, much of the audience." — The Stage (UK)

"Intriguing red herrings and tantalizing twists and turns provided a clever and original plot for this unusual thriller." — Reading Chronicle (UK)

"Brilliant, even better than Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None …well-planned and full of surprises." — The Free Press (Saskatoon)

"Playwrights Marcia Kash and Douglas E. Hughes have embraced the mystery formula with cheeky charm and skillfully crafted an enjoyable trip through safe and cozy mayhem." — The London Free Press

"A Party to Murder thrills Christie fashion .... the tension folds and unfolds like an accordion, revealing hidden passageways, supernatural events, and a bevy of bodies building to a superb climax." — The Kentucky Recorder

"Christie meets Deathtrap [with] a lot of style." — The Cincinnati Enquirer

"Enough to turn Dame Agatha green with envy." — The Oxford Press (Ohio)

"Rather stunning." — The Cincinnati Post

About the Playwright:

Marcia Kash is a Canadian theatre director, playwright and actor. Her stage plays have been seen across Canada, the US and Europe.

Douglas E. Hughes is a Canadian playwright and actor. He has been a professional actor for 25 years, and has appeared in theatres across Canada. For the past ten seasons, he has been a member of the acting company at Shaw Festival. He began writing in 1991 and he teamed up with Marcia Kash to pen A Party to Murder. He makes his home in Toronto, when not working at Shaw.