Dunes Summer Theatre in Michigan City, with team talent Elise Kermani as managing director of the Dunes Arts Foundation and Steve Scott (a director emeritus from Chicago’s Goodman Theater) as Dunes Theatre Artistic Director since fall 2021, has much to celebrate this month.
This weekend marks the theater company’s 75th anniversary season.
A year ago, they opened their 2025 stage season with a sold-out run of a newly imagined telling of Stephen King’s “Misery,” which started performances May 30 and concluded on Father’s Day Sunday.
And now, history seems to be repeating itself for this oasis of art and entertainment nestled in the wooded dunes landscape at 288 Shady Oak Drive in Michigan City.
Last year’s sold-out run of “Misery” starred Chicago TV news personality Janet Davies, completely transformed as the menacing recluse nurse Annie Wilkes, opposite brilliant Kevin Lee Giese as tortured novelist Paul Sheldon, who is held captive by “his biggest fan.” The production was directed by John Hancock, our noted filmmaker and Oscar-nominated movie director, who hails from LaPorte and did the filming for his 1989 holiday classic “Prancer” at his family’s farm in LaPorte.
Davies is back this weekend and during the first half of June to star in a new production of “Deathtrap,” and she’s once again teamed with Kevin Lee Geise (who plays scary thriller playwright Sidney Bruhl), the latter having spent nine years as the director of the theater program for Portage High School.
“Deathtrap” started previews Friday and continues with weekend performances through June 16. The run is directed by Michael Lasswell.
Davies, who plays the infamous Dutch psychic Helga ten Dorp, was the TV entertainment reporter for Chicago’s ABC 7 News for more than 30 years and the host of the award-winning “190 North” Chicago entertainment, dining and lifestyle TV series. A world-traveled, seasoned broadcast journalist and winner of 18 Emmy awards for producing, writing and reporting, Davies has covered the British Royal Family and reported live from the red carpets of the Oscars and the Primetime Emmy Awards, as well as the American Music Awards.
In February 2021, Davies left ABC-owned WLS Channel 7 after a 37-year history and now divides her time between her beloved Chicago, world travels and her home in Galien, Michigan. She is also the board chair of the tiny but mighty stage at The Acorn Theatre in quaint Three Oaks, Michigan.
Written by legendary suspense master Ira Levin, who died at age 78 in November 2007, the acclaimed author is the same scribe who penned “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Stepford Wives.” “Deathtrap” became one of Broadway’s longest-running thrillers due to its razor-sharp wit, shocking twists and a tone captured from the late playwright’s deliciously dark sense of humor.
Set inside a secluded country home lined wall-to-wall with antique murder weapons, the suspense play follows lead character Sidney Bruhl, a once-successful playwright desperate for a comeback after a string of flops. When an irresistible script arrives from former student Clifford Anderson (played by Michael Bond), Sidney recognizes a guaranteed Broadway hit but with one problem: He didn’t write it.
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This prompts Sidney and his wife Myra (played by Jann Iaco) to devise a scheme to convince Clifford they should collaborate on the play. But when Clifford refuses to share credit, the evening, according to director Laswell, “spirals into a dangerous game of manipulation, betrayal and murder.” Enter into this scenario eccentric Dutch psychic Helga ten Dorp (played by Davies), whose unsettling visions threaten to expose everyone’s secrets. The play also stars Steve Kozelka as the family attorney, who is eager for a cut of the profits.
Dunes Summer Theatre is located at 288 Shady Oak Drive in the Michiana Shores area of Michigan City, Indiana. Showtimes are 7 p.m. CST Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. For tickets and full season information, visit www.dunesarts.org or call 219-879-7509. Tickets are $35 for adult general admission or $30 for seniors.
The rest of the milestone 75th anniversary season includes playwright Terrence McNally’s “Frankie and Johnny,” opening June 25. The naughty, funny puppet adventure “Avenue Q” opens July 23, and “Jesus Christ Superstar: In Concert” is Aug. 14.
Philip Potempa is a journalist, published author and radio show host on WJOB 1230 AM. He can be reached at [email protected].