Maria A. DiBattista (LEFT) and a show photo from "The 39 Steps" with Jacob Schorsch and Shaelin McKenna (RIGHT)
(PRINCETON, NJ) --Â Princeton Summer Theater will present two special talkbacks this week after their productions of The 39 Steps. These two conversations will be about Espionage: Fiction and Reality with a Princeton fellow who held a 36 year long career with the Central Intelligence Agency and The Icon of the 1930s Dame + Hitchcock, with a Princeton University English professor.Â
The 39 Steps is a comedic noir farce closing this weekend, with performances Thursday-Saturday at 7:30pm and Saturday at 2:00pm at the Hamilton Murray Theater. For more information, click here.Â
Espionage: Fiction and Reality will be Friday night after the 7:30pm show, as the panelists delve into the media depiction versus real history of espionage with Jonathan Fredman. Jonathan Fredman is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Princeton University School of Public and International Affairs and taught a class last semester on Espionage in the 21st Century. He has held numerous leadership positions at the Central Intelligence Agency during his 36 year career and is a recipient of the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal and the George H.W. Bush Award for Excellence in Counterterrorism.Â
The Icon of the 1930s Dame, Women, and Hitchcock will be Saturday afternoon after the 2:00pm show, as the panelists discuss the impact and characterization of the quick-witted dame in 1930s/1940s comedy and explore Hitchcock's films with Maria A. DiBattista. Professor DiBattista is the Charles Barnwell Straut Class of 1923 Professor of English at Princeton University and has written extensively on modern literature and film. Her books include Fast Talking Dames, a study of American film comedy of the thirties and forties. She has taught and written on Hitchcock and is a great fan of his directorial wit and cunning.
Attendance at both talkbacks is free along with a show ticket. Attendants of the Saturday evening show are welcome to arrive early for the talkback with Maria A. DiBattista at 4:00pm.Â
Princeton Summer Theater was founded by a group of Princeton University students in 1968, and has been an institution dedicated to training the up-and-coming leaders of the theater world ever since. Housed in the Hamilton Murray Theater on Princeton Campus, it has helped launch the careers of hundreds of young artists. Notable alumni include Tony award winners Bebe Neuwirth, Broadway writer Winnie Holzman, and Hollywood movie star William Hootkins.
