TRIFLES
An early twentieth century
psychological thriller.



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TRIFLES is the story of a grotesque murder set in rural America in the years after World War I, a mystery not of "Who?," but "How?" and "Why?" Its tale of a strapping farmer apparently killed for no reason by his slight and mysteriously silent, church-going wife, is a story of sexism as relevant today as the time in which it was written.

The mystery turns on the investigation by the local County Attorney, the sheriff, and the two women accompanying them, one of whom is the Sheriff's wife. The men dismiss the women's interest in "trifles" found in the accused woman's kitchen, but it is actually these trifles that provide the clues which will ultimately explain how and why the murder took place. These clues also move the sheriff's wife to unearth memories of her early life with her husband, a struggle that echoes the accused woman's life. These recollections give her the courage to finally...leave the sheriff? ...or kill him ??? We're not sure, but the story ends on an electrifying note as the sheriff's wife seems to take on the persona of the accused woman.

Shot in a foreboding style of light and shadow, "TRIFLES" is a suspenseful, highly-paced drama moving between the dark moments of two women's parallel lives and the desire for freedom and revenge that ultimately links them -- a story that holds the audience on the edge of their seats.

CAST (In Order of Appearance)

  • Mia Dillon ( Minnie Wright ), a Tony Award, Barrymore Award and Drama Desk Award nominee, winner of the L.A. Dramalogue and Clarence Derwent Awards, who has appeared on Broadway in Crimes of the Heart, The Corn is Green, The Miser, Da, Hay Fever.....in television and films: Law and Order, The Money Pit, The Cosby Show, Mary and Rhoda.
  • Wil Love ( Frank Hale ), who has appeared in many regional theatres, including Baltimore?s Center Stage, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Buffalo Studio Arena and Philadelphia?s Walnut Street Theatre. Two national tours with Jean Stapleton. Associate Artistic Director of Totem Pole Playhouse.
  • David Lansbury (County Attorney George Henderson ), who has appeared on network television: Law and Order, Murder She Wrote....in films: Gorillas in the Mist,.....widely in regional and U.K theatre and on Broadway in The Heidi Chronicles.
  • George DiCenzo ( Sheriff Pete Peters), who has appeared often in episodic television series: NYPD, Murder She Wrote, Law and Order, Jake and the Fatman, Dynasty, Spencer for Hire, Matlock....in films: Exorcist III, Back to the Future, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, ...in regional theatre, and on Broadway in On Borrowed Time and other works... and a noted teacher of acting and directing in New York City.
  • Marian Seldes ( Mary Hale ), a member of the Theatre Hall of Fame, winner of Tony, Obie and Drama Desk awards, who has appeared on Broadway in Medea, Crime and Punishment, Ondine, The Chalk Garden, Equus, Deathtrap, among other plays.....in films: Digging to China, Tom and Huck, Home Alone III....in television series: Murphy Brown, Murder She Wrote, Kate and Allie, among many others.
  • Maryann Plunkett ( Alma Peters ), Tony Award-winning actor who has appeared on Broadway in the title roles of St. Joan, Agnes of God, and in The Crucible.....in television series as the guest lead in Star Trek, Matlock, Miami Vice, and Murder She Wrote.
  • Brian Delate ( John Wright), who has appeared in films: co-star of The Truman Show, the lead in Home Before Dark, The Shawshank Redemption....in television: The Prosecutors, Law and Order, NY Undercover.....and in regional and off-Broadway theatre.