The Resident Ensemble Players (REP) is a professional theatre company located at the University of Delaware.

REP season opens Sept. 29

Article by Amanda McGinty Photo and illustration courtesy of Resident Ensemble Players September 20, 2021

Audio productions offered this fall, with plans for live theatre performances in 2022

The Resident Ensemble Players (REP), the professional theatre company in residence at the University of Delaware, will open its 2021-22 season with the first of four virtual offerings beginning Wednesday, Sept. 29 and continuing through the fall, with a much-anticipated return to live performances expected in early 2022.

This fall, the REP continues its “On the Air and In the Cloud” series, all free and available online to the public, with four audio plays — a gripping classic drama, a thrilling horror, a provocative premiere and a holiday favorite.

“We are very excited about sharing our fall audio offerings with you, and everyone at the REP is looking forward to joyfully returning to live performances early in the new year,” said Sanford (Sandy) Robbins, the REP’s producing artistic director.

Plans call for the actors to return to the stage, performing live and welcoming audiences back into the theatre, early in 2022. Box office and ticketing information for live performances will be made available later this fall.

For updates and the latest information, visit the REP website.

Season opens with a Sherlock Holmes classic

The REP opens the fall season with Sherlock Holmes in A Scandal in Bohemia, adapted for radio by Denis Green and Anthony Boucher and directed by the REP’s Stephen Pelinski, streaming Sept. 29 through Oct. 17.

In this exciting and amusing mystery, the king of Bohemia enlists the services of the great detective and his faithful friend, Dr. Watson, to recover a very valuable photograph that could ruin the young king. Newly engaged to a Scandinavian princess, the king is worried that his royal relatives will disapprove of his secret past with former lover Irene Adler, a young American opera singer. Miss Adler now threatens to ruin the king by exposing a condemning photograph of the two of them to the King’s fiancée.

“It’s interesting because this play takes place in a time when women were perceived as powerless appendages to the males of society,” Pelinski said. “The character Irene Adler finds a voice, a very strong voice. She’s a resolute woman, and I find that very appealing about the story.”

Recording the audio production of the REP’s “A Scandal in Bohemia” are the production’s director, Stephen Pelinski (left), and actor Michael Gotch, in the role of Sherlock Holmes.

The king is desperate to possess and suppress this photograph. Sherlock Holmes is the king’s last hope, as offers of increasingly large sums of money and several attempts to steal the photo are unsuccessful. Intrigue and adventure follow Holmes and Watson as they find Miss Adler to be a most cunning adversary.

“Irene Adler is so underestimated by the men in this play,” Pelinski said. “This woman is a match for the wits and wiles of the king, Watson and Sherlock Holmes.”

Listeners can stream the REP’s audio production of A Scandal in Bohemia — full of blackmail, deduction, schemes, disguises and intrigue — for free anytime from Sept. 29 to Oct. 17 through this website.

Season continues with three more audio productions

October brings Halloween and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue, streaming Oct. 27 through Nov 14. Adapted and directed by REP company member Michael Gotch, this frightening tale is sure to give audiences the chills.

Terrifying murders have shocked the city of Paris. The victims’ bodies are so viciously brutalized, it seems only a supernatural strength could have committed these horrifying crimes. With no suspect and contradicting witness reports, police are baffled. Full of horror and all things grim, The Murders in the Rue Morgue is the perfect Halloween treat.

The REP season continues with the exciting premiere of Votetrickery: A Spoken Word Symphony, written and directed by REP company member Hassan El-Amin, streaming Dec. 1 through Dec. 19.

Questions about voting rights are as old as the United States. Today these questions are again dominating the headlines and being passionately debated in homes all over the country. Votetrickery is an engaging and timely exploration of America’s history of voting and the unresolved voting rights issues that continue to plague the country today.

A Christmas Carol returns for the holiday season, streaming Dec. 8 through Dec. 26. Listeners will follow the cold-hearted miser Ebenezer Scrooge as he unwittingly sets out on a journey to rediscover the importance of kindness and compassion.

About the REP

The Resident Ensemble Players (REP) is a professional theatre company located at the University of Delaware.

The REP’s mission is to engage audiences throughout the tri-state region and beyond with frequent productions of outstanding classic, modern and contemporary plays performed in a wide variety of styles that celebrate and demonstrate the range and breadth of an ensemble of nationally respected stage actors.

The REP is also committed to creating and expanding audiences for live theatre by offering its productions at low prices that enable and encourage the attendance of everyone in the region, regardless of income. When offering live performances, the REP performs in the Roselle Center for the Arts, 110 Orchard Road, Newark, Delaware, on the main campus of the University of Delaware.