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"Dead Man's Cell Phone" Tells A Strange Tale At The Playhouse

Opening at The Playhouse is a new production in which the open itself might seem a bit familiar: A woman in a restaurant -- and maybe this has happened to you -- someone’s phone keeps ringing and ringing.

“And she politely asks him to turn it off or answer it," said Andy Thornton, the director of "Dean Man's Cell Phone." But the guy in the restaurant doesn’t do it.

“So eventually she walks over to him and picks up his phone and she answers it,” Thornton said.

But, he said, there’s one big problem:

“She realizes that he’s dead. And that’s where the play begins and she kind of launches herself into his life,” Thornton said. 

Playhouse CEO Asia Ciaravino really likes this one.

"It has one of the most provocative scenes of all time. It’s a very interesting piece," she said.

Thornton continues with the storyline:

"And she meets his mother and his wife and his mistress and his brother and the whole adventure unfurls from there," he said.

That adventure involves the woman conjuring up an entire character of a man she never knew.  

“When I first read the play it felt like some odd, eccentric comedy," Thornton said. "But the longer we kept working on it the more questions kept coming up. It’s like archeology: You just keep digging and new things keep popping up."

This all happens starting Friday night at The Playhouse.

"The Cellar Theater at The Playhouse, and there’s about 50 seats and they sell out fast so we’re encouraging people to get their tickets as soon as possible," Thornton said.

Jack Morgan can be reached at jack@tpr.org and on Twitter at @JackMorganii