Joseph Hayes, adapted from his best selling novel

Melodrama

11m, 3f

Unit set.

A smash hit on Broadway with Paul Newman and winner of the Tony Award, this revised edition of The Desperate Hours has been simplified to employ a less complicated set.

The Hilliards are a typical family living on the outskirts of Indianapolis; abruptly, their pleasant home becomes a jungle full of cunning and violence. Mr. Hilliard and 19 year old Cindy are allowed to go to work while Mrs. Hilliard and 10 year old Ralphie remain in the house as hostages. Meanwhile, the police search closes in inexorably, conducted by a deputy sheriff who has his own reasons for wanting to kill. The Hilliards are helpless. A murder occurs. The police move closer.

"That very rare thing, an almost perfect melodrama fast, tight, logical, combining sentiment with gunfire in exactly the right proportions."-The New Yorker

FEE: $75 per performance.

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Sound Effects CD