Rev. Ebbers cast in Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap

When Rev. Chris Ebbers moved to Forest City in 2020, he had a hunch he might end up on the BrickStreet Theatre stage one day. His role as Major Metcalf in Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap is turning that hunch into reality.
Ebbers and his wife, DeLyte, moved to Forest City at the beginning of the pandemic after his retirement as a United Methodist minister. They had been looking for a community halfway between their two children: a son, Jaron, who lives with his wife, Anne, and two children in Minneapolis; and a daughter, Ariel, who lives with her husband, Steve, and their child in Des Moines. Forest City earned the spot as their new hometown after finding a beautiful acreage on the edge of town. They also appreciated the fact Forest City was a college town and “felt like a nice community overall.”
The Ebbers also attended BrickStreet’s production of Elf in December 2019 on one of their hometown hunting excursions.
“I’d been told about BrickStreet by one of my parishioners (mother of BrickStreet performer Joy Newcom),” said Ebbers. “We were really impressed. The production was so ambitious and extremely well done.”
Both Chris and DeLyte Ebbers had been on stage in West Union, their previous hometown, as Grandpa Joe and Grandma Josephine in that community theatre’s production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He also served as crew for a one-woman show by award-winning playwright Janet Schlapkohl.
He enjoys theatre as “an opportunity to make something fiction seem real.” He shared that someone once told him that, for pastors, accomplishing that may be easier than preaching non-fiction.
“In both cases,” he said, “you are trying to lift people’s lives through storytelling and to give people hope. I think theatre does that. Audiences get to live through something else for a little bit and see their own lives in a new way.”
Ebbers recently filled the pulpit of Garner’s United Methodist Church from April through June of this year when Rev. Mike Schaffer left on medical release. He’s enjoying his time with BrickStreet, meeting people and working as part of an ensemble. Ebbers complimented directors, Daniel and Shandra Sarasio Meyer, Forest City, for a vision of the show that has performers “working well together. It’s so good.”
In Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, an unlikely group of diverse travelers learn about one another when they become snowbound together. In this whodunit, five Monkswell Manor tenants become murder suspects along with the lodge’s owners, a newlywed couple who struggles to keep panic at bay. The Mousetrap holds the distinction of being the longest, continuously running play in the world. It opened in London’s West End in 1952 and ran continuously until a global pandemic shuttered it in March 2020.
The murder mystery runs Sept. 30, Oct. 1-2, and Oct. 7-9. The curtain opens 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays. The show will be performed in BrickStreet Theatre’s new location at 1305 Hwy. 69 S., Forest City. The space houses the organization’s offices, costumes, props, and scene shop. The organization currently has a Capital Campaign underway to raise funds for improved theatrical lighting, sound, and audience seating.
Tickets are available at www.brickstreettheatre.org or at the door, if available. They may be also purchased by leaving a message with the BrickStreet Box Office at 641-585-1800.