SEVEN KEYS TO SLAUGHTER PEAK

by Joseph Hanreddy. Based on the novel by Earl Derr Biggers and the play by George M. Cohan
March 23 - April 18
Quadracci Powerhouse Theater

Artistic Director Joseph Hanreddy talks about his new play, SEVEN KEYS TO SLAUGHTER PEAK

Join us in the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater for the thrilling and entertaining mystery caper, SEVEN KEYS TO SLAUGHTER PEAK. William Hallowell Magee, a writer of light, romantic fiction makes a bet with a friend that he can complete the writing of an entire novel in a 24-hour period. He is given “the only existing key” to Slaughter Peak Lodge, a quiet space to accomplish his task in northern Wisconsin. As soon as Magee gets to work, he is surprised by a stream of interrupters and finds himself caught up in a criminal caper that is both outlandish and hilarious to watch!

This is the final production of the 2009/10 season, as well as Joseph Hanreddy’s final production as Artistic Director of Milwaukee Rep. Not only is Joe directing this production, but he has also written the script, based on the novel, Seven Keys To Baldpate, by Earl Derr Biggers and the play by George M. Cohan. The original play ran successfully on Broadway in 1913 and has had six film versions. Joe will be working with a cast full of the members of the Resident Acting Company, as well as guest actors Steve Pickering and Lee Stark.

Rep Literary Director Kristin Crouch sat down with Joe to discuss his artistic approach to the writing and rehearsal process of SEVEN KEYS TO SLAUGHTER PEAK.

Kristin Crouch: Joe, you have been interested in this project for some time. What initially spurred your interest in this story and why have you decided to bring it to Milwaukee Rep audiences at this time?

Joe Hanreddy: I wanted to wind up the season, as well as my time as The Rep’s Artistic Director, with a joyful and entertaining comic romp – something uniquely our own and including as many of The Rep’s Resident Acting Company as possible. Some years back I’d read George M. Cohan’s play, which led me to Earl Derr Biggers’ original 1913 novel about a writer who seeks isolation in a deserted summer resort in the middle of winter so that he can have the right circumstances to write his masterpiece. The premise of the piece is inherently theatrical as evidenced by all of the various incarnations – Cohan’s brassy play and a series of films with different settings and styles (all of which are long gone and unavailable to see). The original novel is really quite similar to the romantic crime-caper fiction that it spoofs, but it has great characters, a lot of heart and subtly touches on struggles in the writer’s creative process. It was fun to slant the play in that direction as well as to invent some twists with the series of visitors that would make the play more theatrical and fun.

KC: SEVEN KEYS TO SLAUGHTER PEAK is inspired by both the novel and the play of SEVEN KEYS TO BALDPATE. Yet, you have given your story a unique Wisconsin setting and cast of characters. I believe you also spent some time recently in an historical summer resort in Northern Wisconsin while you were working on the script. How did this experience inform your creative work on the adaptation?

JH: The play is about a writer desperately trying to meet a deadline by sequestering himself someplace remote without the possibility of interruption. I had an opportunity to hang out for a while in the Northwoods of Wisconsin in the empty lobby of a lodge that was an almost exact replica of the setting I imagined for the play – and was out of Internet and cell phone range. It was an ideal situation to finish the initial draft of the script during a year when I had a lot of obligations. It was fun and productive.

KC: What makes this a Wisconsin story?

JH: Given that a brutally cold winter and isolation are essential to the story, setting the story in rural Wisconsin in December is a natural fit. More importantly, most of the cast and I are either Wisconsin natives or have lived here for a long time now and consider it home. We all have a great love for the place – the beauty, the challenges of the climate, the generosity and genuineness of the people and their dry, ironic and understated sense of humor.

KC: This is a very entertaining, very funny script. It’s a mixture of sorts between a mystery and a farce, isn’t it?

JH: Mixing up the styles is at the heart of the play. The central character is a ‘genre’ writer who creates popular entertainment – criminal capers, romantic intrigues, mysteries and melodramas with a bit of gothic horror thrown in. I wanted to try and fit them all into the same play. Part of the fun of the play is when the outlandish things Magee is writing become reality and disrupt his deadline.

KC: What is the origin of your title?

JH: As I wrote, the piece took on its own character. The types of literature that the play spoofs and the nature of the criminal conspiracy that is at the center of the plot changed. “Baldpate” didn’t seem to fit the new play as well as something with a slightly ominous and comically overstated feeling. I also felt that as the new play was at the same time beholden to – and unique from – its sources it seemed appropriate to graft part of the original title with something with a bit of bite to it.

KC: This will be your last time working with the Resident Acting Company as the Artistic Director of The Rep. This show is also a kind of celebration of your many years of fruitful and creative collaborations with this group of actors. What do you look forward to – personally and professionally – within this rehearsal process?

JH: It’s such a generous, smart, funny and talented group. Over our many years together creating countless productions they have always been infectiously spontaneous and joyful – and at the same time fierce in their dedication to solve the smallest detail of every moment in the play. My experiences with all of these actors have been such a blessing and so wonderfully life affirming that I couldn’t possibly ask for anything other than “business as usual.”

THE REP IN DEPTH
Join us for The Rep In Depth, our lively informative half-hour talk which starts 45 minutes before every performance in the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater. This Rep In Depth will be led by Resident Acting Company Member Torrey Hanson.

Made possible in part by the generous support of: