Around the World in 80 Days at Pen Players

Cassandra Bissell

Mark Brown’s family-friendly adaptation of Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days, is the fifth and final production of the Peninsula Players 2009 Season. The show runs through Sunday, October 18.

This high-spirited, fast-moving and highly imaginative comic race around the world has five agile actors spanning 24,000 miles, four continents and 39 characters in two action-packed magical hours.

Jay Whittaker

Brown’s adaptation has spanned the globe, having been produced from New York to Baridhara Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Adventurer Phileas Fogg is a London gentleman of his time living in 1872. Fogg is a very precise man with alarmingly regular habits. Well-traveled, very wealthy and with no friends or relatives, he keeps his days on the most precise schedule. While spending the evening at the local Reform club, Fogg and his fellow members discuss globetrotting in their modern era.

Joe Foust

Fogg wagers 20,000 pounds he can travel around the world in 80 days or less. With his loyal servant, Passepartout, he undertakes the amazing journey, but complications arise in Fogg’s meticulously planned itinerary as a misguided detective hounds Fogg at each step, assuming he is hunting an infamous bank robber.

The show is directed by Tom Mula. Mula has been a collaborating company member for 15 seasons, acting in many farces and directing several productions for Peninsula Players including Lion in Winter, Red Herring, Be My Baby, Amadeus, and this year’s season opener The Lady with all the Answers.

Kevin McKillip

The cast includes Peninsula Players veteran actors Kevin McKillip as Fogg, Jay Whittaker as Passepartout, with Patrick New and Cassandra Bissell and Joe Foust in an assortment of diverse roles. McKillip, New, Foust and Bissell performed in the recent Peninsula Players’ productions of Is He Dead? and Whittaker and McKillip in Wait Until Dark.

The Around the World in 80 Days creative team includes Samantha Jones, costume designer, regional scenic designer James Maronek, properties design by Sarah Ross, lighting design by regional designer Charles Cooper, and national sound designer Cecil Averett.

Patrick New

Around the World in 80 Days will be on stage through October 18. Curtain times are Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 7 pm, with the exception of the closing performance on Sunday, October 18 at 4 pm. Individual ticket prices range from $30 to $35. For more information or to reserve tickets phone the Peninsula Players’ box office at 920.868.3287 or visit http://www.peninsulaplayers.com.