Westport Actresses Cast in Witness for the Prosecution, Agatha Christie Thriller Produced by Westport Community Theatre

Westport actresses Cindy Hartog and Samantha Pattinson have been cast in the latest production of the Westport Community Theatre, Agatha Christie’s Witness For A Prosecution, with performances from November 25 through December 11. The nail-biting murder mystery, which takes place in post-war London of the 1950’s, is a “who done it” with numerous plot twists and turns that keep the audience guessing until the very last scene.

Tom Rushen directs the outstanding cast of fourteen local actors in the psychological thriller, where a brutal murder has taken place in a handsome London townhouse. The victim is the glamorous and enormously rich Emily French. All the evidence points to Leonard Vole, a young opportunist to whom the heiress left her vast fortune and who ruthlessly took her life. At least, this is the story that Emily’s dedicated housekeeper Janet Mackenzie stands by in court. Leonard however, is adamant that his wife, Romaine, can prove his innocence.

Pattinson, who plays Romaine, has previously acted with WCT as Sibyl in Private Lives and as the voice of Sonia in They’re Playing Our Song. She played Jill in The Invisible Fence, a one-act play written and performed at the Darien Library as part of the Catherine Lindsay Memorial series, and her latest theatre role was as Jill Imbrie in The Philadelphia Story. Recently, she added a film credit to her resume as the villain Vivaldi in the independent movie An Inconsistent Story in Stealing to be premiered in Westport on December 22nd. Pattinson is an apprentice member of the Theatre Artists Workshop in Norwalk.

Cindy Hartog is Greta in the WCT production. She has appeared in a variety of shows at many local Connecticut Community Theatres, and has been formally educated as an actress at The Neighborhood Playhouse, The Williamstown Theatre Festival and The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. She is the Artistic Director of Education at WCT and owns Cindy's Sous Chefs, a company specializing in teaching kids to cook ‘with a bit a drama sprinkled on top’.

Pattinson and Hartog shine as part of Rushen’s cast that skillfully leads the audience through the unraveling of an intellectually challenging mystery; audience members must pay close attention as they brace themselves for the final twist of the plot. The well-rounded cast also includes Travis Branch, Geoffrey Gilbert, Larry Greeley, Barry Hatrick, Peter Haynes, Briana O’Brien LaMare, Stafford Nibley, John Pyron, David Pirrie, Jeff Pliskin and David Victor.

Witness for the Prosecution is produced by arrangement with Samuel French, Inc., and has performances from November 25 through December 11, on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and at 2:00 p.m. on Sundays, with a Thursday performance on December 1 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $25, $23 for seniors and students, and can be purchased at westportcommunitytheatre.com or by calling (203) 226-1983. The Westport Community Theatre is located at the Westport Town Hall, 110 Myrtle Avenue.

Pictured in first photo: Geoffrey Gilbert and Cindy Hartog in the Westport Community Theatre’s production of Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution.

Pictured in second photo: Samantha Pattinson and Barry Hatrick.