Taproot Theatre’s latest production, the murder mystery musical ”Something’s Afoot,” is selling so well that it has extended the run by two weeks, through Aug. 27.

Tim Tully and Deanna Sarkar. Photo by Erik Stuhaug, Taproot Theatre.

Click here for tickets and more information.

Tonight is the first preview of Taproot Theatre’s latest production, the murder-mystery musical “Something’s Afoot.” Official opening night is Friday.

Natalie Anne Moe and Jenny Cross. Photo by Erik Stuhaug.

And Taproot has announced the lineup for its 2012 season, which includes two regional premieres, a musical, and a comedy about family vacations:

Taproot Theatre’s 2012 opens with Molière’s Tartuffe (translated by Richard Wilbur), a fast -paced farce that will have audiences rolling with laughter and rhyming in couplets (February 1-March 3).

Next comes the regional premiere of Freud’s Last Session, the off-Broadway hit by Mark St. Germain. Two of the 20th century’s greatest minds―C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud―spar to the end in this fictional meeting (March 21- April 21).

In the spring, Taproot Theatre gets in vacation mode with Leaving Iowa. By Tim Clue and Spike Manton, this warm and funny celebration of the classic family road trip reminds us that sometimes the journey is just as important as the destination (May 16- June 16).

Then it’s Chaps, which is perhaps your only chance to see a British cowboy croon at the moon, in this musical by Jahnna Beecham and Malcolm Hillgartner, with vocal arrangements by Malcolm Hillgartner and Chip Duford (July 11-August 11).

Finally, Taproot Theatre wraps up its 2012 Season in the fall with the regional premiere of Dorothy Sayer’s Gaudy Night, adapted by Frances Limoncelli. Sayers’ signature wit, insight and charm will delight you in this dazzling mystery (September 19-October 20).

Current subscribers can resubscribe for next season now; subscriptions open to the general public on Oct. 3. Single tickets go on sale in January.

“Something’s Afoot,” a murder mystery opening at Taproot Theatre Company on July 15, begins by letting you know who didn’t do it.

Jenny Cross, Natalie Ann Moe, and Tim Tully. Photo by Erik Stuhaug, Taproot Theatre.

“The butler didn’t do it!” So starts this murder mystery musical that has been delighting audiences for decades. When wealthy Lord Rancour is found dead at his lakeside estate, the race to find out whodunit begins. Filled with booby-traps and belted songs, this hilarious spoof hums along as you play armchair detective to a zany cast of characters.

Directed by Scott Nolte, “Something’s Afoot” runs July 15 through Aug. 13, with previews July 13-14.

“Murder mysteries have always been a big hit among our patrons, since the early days of Taproot Theatre,” Nolte said in a press release. “So, we got to thinking, what better way to celebrate our 35th Anniversary Season and say thanks for the years of support than to present a murder mystery musical? This clever spoof honors the mystery greats like Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers.”

“Something’s Afoot” premiered in 1972 at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta. Taproot’s production features Dale Bowers, Gerald B. Browning, Ryan Childers, Jenny Cross, William Hamer, Ian Lindsay, Natalie Anne Moe, Deanna Sarkar, Pat Sibley and Tim Tully.

Show times are 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday; and 2 p.m. Saturday matinees. There’s a pay-what-you-can performance on July 20, and post-play discussions on Wednesday nights (except for the preview night). Taproot Theatre is at 204 N. 85th St.

The Seattle Foundation is hosting Give Big, a one-day push to bring in donations to nonprofits in King County. The Seattle Foundation and local businesses will match a share of every contribution made online between 7 a.m. and midnight Thursday.

Phinney-Greenwood organizations that you can donate to include the Woodland Park Zoo, Taproot Theatre, the Phinney Neighborhood Association, kids tutoring and writing center 826 Seattle, and performance group Manifold Motion. (If you know of other neighborhood organizations involved in Give Big, please list them below in Comments.)

You’ll also have an opportunity to be chosen at random to win a “Golden Ticket,” which gets your charity of choice an extra $1,000 from the event’s sponsors.

Taproot Theatre’s current production of “Brownie Points” discusses the issue of race and motherhood. The theater is holding a series of guided conversations after Thursday night performances (June 2, 9 and 16), and will host a special “Neighbors and Strangers: Discussing Diversity and the Experience of Race in Seattle” at 7 p.m., Monday, June 13. Special guests at “Neighbors and Strangers” are Pastor Patrinell Wright and the Total Experience Gospel Choir.

The discussion comes shortly after the release of the 2010 Census report, which ranked Seattle as the 5th least diverse of America’s large cities, yet with the most diverse zip code in the country (98118). “Neighbors and Strangers” will consider a number of questions, including what does this mean for people living in Seattle, is diversity a problem in our city, and what factors are affecting Seattle’s diversity?

Moderated by Tali Hairston, director of the John Perkins Center at Seattle Pacific University, the evening’s speakers will include Pastor Patrinell Wright, founder/director of Total Experience Gospel Choir, Rabbi Mark S. Glickman of Congregation Kol Ami and Congregation Kol Shalom, Dr. Ron Ruthruff, author of The Least of These, and Karen Lund, director/associate artistic director of Taproot Theatre Company. A special guest performance from Total Experience Gospel Choir will open the evening.

Admission to “Neighbors and Strangers” is free, but you must sign up in advance due to limited seating (priority seating will be given to ticketholders for any performance of “Brownie Points”). To RSVP, contact Sonja Lowe at 206-529-3666 or sonjal@taproottheatre.org.

Taproot Theatre’s 2011 Gala last month raised a record amount – more than $267,000 – to support the theater’s programs, including a popular touring production that performs at schools, libraries and other public venues around the region. The theater reports that the 250-seat event on April 9 at The Triple Door downtown was sold out.

Left to right at microphones: Taproot Theatre Road Company performers Ryan Childers, Asha Stichter, Adrienne Littleton and Josh Smyth.

“No theatre can survive, let alone thrive, without the encouragement and generosity of friends,” Producing Artistic Director Scott Nolte said in a press release. “Clearly, we’re blessed to have an exceptional family of patrons who care deeply about Taproot Theatre’s success, artistry and stability.”

Taproot has also begun a three-year, $6 million drive – called the Deep Roots Campaign – part of which will help pay for its proposed expansion into the adjacent space where the Eleanor Roosevelt Building stood until it was destroyed by arson in October 2009.

Taproot is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year.

As it closes out its phenomenally successful run of “The Beams are Creaking” this weekend, Greenwood’s Taproot Theatre prepares for the west coast premiere of “Brownie Points.” Directed by Karen Lund, “Brownie Points” opens on May 20.

In November, playwright Janece Shaffer won the Gene-Gabriel Moore Playwriting Award for “Brownie Points.” Shaffer will visit Taproot Theatre during opening week.

The girls’ club pledge never promised camping would be easy…for the moms. In the late night mayhem of a backwoods campout a storm rages outside, while a squall builds inside the cabin. Set against tranquil mountains, the close quarters, diverse backgrounds and differing walks of life collide, spurring hilarious but meaningful conversations about race, religion and parenting.

“I love how this play gets to the heart of sensitive issues, by couching them in the comic moments of our everyday lives, making them accessible,” said Lund. “It basically comes down to what’s more important, people’s differences in things like race and religion, or what they have in common, which in the case of these women is the struggle to raise their kids the best way they know how.”

Tickets are available at Taproot Theatre’s box office, 204 N. 85th St., by phone at 206-781-9707, or online.

Douglas Anderson, who wrote “The Beams are Creaking,” which has had a phenomenal sold-out run at Taproot Theatre over the last month, will attend this Thursday’s performance. Anderson is visiting from Vermont. He will speak at a special post-play “talkback.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Matt Shimkus) and his brother, Klaus (Simon Pringle), are part of a plot to murder Hitler. Photo by Erik Stuhaug, Taproot Theatre.

Taproot has twice added shows to the original run because every show sold out through the April 23 original closing date. Seating is extremely limited for the shows on April 28, 29 and 30. Tickets are available through Taproot Theatre’s box office at 206-781-9707 and online at www.taproottheatre.org.

“The Beams are Creaking” begins in 1933 just as the Nazi party has taken power in Germany. It tells a true story of a plot to murder Hitler, and how one man tries to stay true to his religious convictions while battling questions of morality and political allegiance.

Taproot Theatre has extended the run of its current production “The Beams are Creaking” due to popular demand for tickets. The theater had already added a  Tuesday show next week, but it’s now extending the run by a full week, adding three weekend shows.

Originally scheduled to close on April 23, the show will now run through April 30, with additional performances at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 28, and 8 p.m. performances on Friday, April 29, and Saturday, April 30.

Tickets are available through Taproot Theatre’s box office at 206-781-9707.

Gerald B. Browning, Don Brady, and Matt Shimkus. Photo by Erik Stuhaug.

Set in Germany in 1933, the Nazi party has taken power. In the face of the greatest evil of the 20th century, Dietrich Bonhoeffer battles questions of morality, political allegiance and religious conviction, and must make choices that could change the course of history. This true story will keep audiences on the edge of their seats.

David Roby will replace Simon Pringle for the performances April 28 through 30. The rest of the cast remains the same: Matt Shimkus as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, along with Don Brady, Gerald Browning, Robert Gallaher, Nathan Jeffrey, Rob Martin, Kim Morris and Sarah Ware. The production team includes scenic and sound designer Mark Lund, costume designer Nanette Acosta and lighting designer Andrew Duff. Rachael Dorman serves as stage manager, Marianna de Fazio as dialect coach, Sam Vance as music director, and Melissa Johnson as dramaturg intern with Sonja Lowe as supervising dramaturg.

Our news partners The Seattle Times reports today that Phinney Ridge actor Mark Chamberlin died on Tuesday just as he was being released from Harborview Medical Center.

According to The Times, Chamberlin, 55, had been found on Sunday lying next to his bicycle on Dexter Avenue North, near the Fremont Bridge. Chamberlin’s friends told The Times he was preparing to be released from the hospital when he said he didn’t feel well, then died.

Chamberlin was a well-known actor in Seattle, and had just finished a run as the lead in Greenwood’s Taproot Theatre’s “The Odyssey” last month.

You can read the full Times story here.

Taproot Theatre actor Mark Chamberlin, a Phinney Ridge resident who just finished a run as the lead Odysseus in “The Odyssey,” died after a weekend bicycle accident, The Seattle Times reports. 

This was posted on the Taproot Facebook page:

We’re sorry to share this news with our Taproot Theatre patrons and friends. Mark just finished a masterful run as Odysseus in our season opener The Odyssey. Our prayers go out to his family and friends.  

Chamberlin was also slated to perform April 4 on the opening night of ACT Theatre’s Pinter Fortnightly series.

Our condolences go to Mark’s family and friends.

Greenwood’s Taproot Theatre presents “The Beams are Creaking,” a true story from Nazi Germany, from March 23-April 23. It was written by Douglas Anderson and directed by Karen Lund.

Left to right: Matt Shimkus as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Don Brady and Nathan Jeffrey. Photo by Erik Stuhaug.

Set in Germany in 1933, the Nazi party has taken power. In the face of the greatest evil of the 20th century, Dietrich Bonhoeffer battles questions of morality, political allegiance and religious conviction, and must make choices that could change the course of history.

Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, but also a member of the Abwehr, the German Military Intelligence during Nazi Germany. Originally forming as a defense organization, the Abwehr was secretly in opposition to the Nazi Party and worked to undermine Hitler’s initiatives from the inside. That connection allowed Bonhoeffer to travel abroad and pass information about the resistance to foreign contacts, all under the auspices of conducting business in the interest of Nazi Germany.

“This is a story of a man who gave his life for something he believed in,” said Lund. “In the face of the same issues would any of us have had the same courage? It’s a thrilling ride—a spy story, a romance, a philosophical debate all at once… and it’s true!”