Creating A New World With The STA Players

By: Ana Flores, Valentina Holley, and Sophia Soulier

About The Mousetrap
The Mousetrap is a play written by Agatha Christie that first premiered on October 6, 1952, at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham, England. The Mousetrap is the longest-running play in the world at the moment. This play was lightly based on a true story about a case of a twelve-year-old named Dennis O’Neil. The Mousetrap is made up of five main characters, Christopher Wren, Mrs. Boyle, Major Metcalf, Miss Casewell, and Mr. Paravicini. These characters travel on vacation and stay at the newly opened Monkswell Manor, a Berkshire bed and breakfast outside of London. During their stay, a blizzard hits London, leaving the five snowed in and completely cut off from the outside world. But on a sudden whim, a detective shows up on the hotel’s doorstep with an urgent warning of murder and mayhem.

Ms. Garrard’s Thoughts on The Mousetrap

Ms. Elizabeth Garrard, the Theatre Director at STA, chose The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie because she “wanted to do something around Halloween that was either mysterious or scary to get the attention of the student body so that we could increase our audience base.” Ms. Garrard’s favorite part of the auditions was assembling a cast for The Mousetrap and seeing all of the bright new young talent come through the door. This gave her a good idea of who she has to work with over the upcoming season. During auditions, Mrs. Garrard was not just considering actors for the current play, but also for other forthcoming shows. She’s really excited about this cast because this play “has some very challenging material.” The STA Players have to practice speaking with British accents while working hard to build suspense for audience members.

STA Players- Actors’ Perspective

Avery Patterson, a ninth grader at STA, initially auditioned for Mollie Ralston and Mrs. Boyle, and she ended up being cast as Mrs. Boyle. During her audition, she felt “so nervous” and stated that, “I think I cried like twice, but everybody was super supportive and I’m happy with my audition.” Avery stated that during her audition she thought she had a lot of “authenticity and for never meeting any of the other people who auditioned, I felt like I had good chemistry with all of the other actors.” Dylan Degenhardt, a twelfth grader at STA, originally auditioned for all of the male roles including Giles Ralston, Christopher Wren, Major Meltcalf, Mr. Paravinci, and Detective Sergeant Trotter. Dylan ended up being cast as Major Metcalf and said he is “very excited, and I’m glad I got what I got.” He was very excited during his audition and stated, “It was good to meet all of the people again.” Cody Straka, a tenth grader at STA, auditioned for Christopher Wren, but got the role of Giles Ralston. Cody is very happy with the role he got, and during his audition he felt “a bit nervous”, but he felt very confident that he was going to get a part in the school play.

Where To See The Mousetrap

The Mousetrap will be presented at the Bienes Center on the STA campus on November 2-5, 2023. Tickets will be available on the Bienes Center website www.bca-sta.org starting in October.