Town Players of Newtown will be holding auditions for Prescription: Murder, A Columbo Mystery the second weekend of September.

Providing the inspiration for the TV series Columbo, the theatrical predecessor Prescription: Murder tells the story of a brilliant psychiatrist and his mistress, who hatch a plot to murder his neurotic, possessive wife. The execution of their plan and the creation of their perfect alibi depends on a bizarre impersonation.

Lieutenant Columbo enters the picture in his deceptively bumbling way to match wits with the criminal in a classic game of cat-and-mouse.

The play was written by William Link and Richard Levinson. The Town Players production will be directed by Michele Leigh.

Auditions are planned for Sunday and Monday, September 8-9, beginning at 7 pm each night. They will be conducted at The Little Theater, 18 Orchard Hill Road.

The play is set in May, 1960s, in New York City. The cast calls for four men and three women:

Dr Roy Flemming — a polished, urbane New York psychiatrist in his 40s; highly civilized, pragmatic, with a cold, functioning intelligence, he wears conservative, artfully tailored suits;

Lieutenant Columbo — a rumpled police official of indeterminate age; he seems to be bumbling and vague, with an overly apologetic, almost deferential manner, which masks an innate shrewdness and foxy knowledge of human nature;

Susan Hudson — Young and extremely attractive, with a hint of latent sensuality, she is not particularly complicated, but as the play progresses, she shows the burden of the increasing tension;

Miss Petrie — a pleasant, efficient woman in her 50s with a genuine liking for people;

Claire Flemming — a brittle, sardonic product of New York’s East Side, she is in her early 40s and shows the strain of a loveless marriage;

Dave Gordon — a smooth, boyish lawyer with his eye on a political future; and

Delivery Boy — a walk-on part.The play is scheduled for production weekends, November 15-December 7.

Contact the director at [naviga:u]storyteller99@yahoo.com[/naviga:u] for additional information.