Clockwise from upper left: Hugo Armstrong, Alan Tudyk, Ramiz Monsef, Leo Marks, Helen Sadler, and Austin Durant.

Full Cast Announced for Mysterious Circumstances at the Geffen Playhouse

05.16.2019

May 16, 2019 —The Geffen Playhouses today announced the full cast for Mysterious Circumstances (June 11 — July 14). The cast features Hugo Armstrong (God of Carnage, Bleed Rail) as The American and others, Austin Durant (War Horse, You Can’t Take It With You) as Conan Doyle and others, Leo Marks (Hamlet, The Hothouse) as Smith and others, Ramiz Monsef (Guards at the Taj, Archduke) as Watson and others, Helen Sadler(Photograph 51, One Man, Two Guv’nors) as Touie others and Emmy Award nominee Alan Tudyk (Spamalot, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) as Richard Lancelyn Green and Sherlock Holmes

Inspired by The New Yorker article Mysterious Circumstances: The Strange Death of a Sherlock Holmes Fanatic by David Grann, the play centers around the true story of the mysterious death of Richard Lancelyn Green, the world’s foremost scholar on Sherlock Holmes. After spending two decades searching for the missing papers of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Green came close to unlocking the secrets behind Holmes’ creator when he tracked down Conan Doyle’s youngest daughter who possessed the treasured archives that were intended to be donated to the British Library upon her death.

After her passing in 1997, however, the papers were divided and put up for auction by distant relatives to Conan Doyle’s estate. Determined not to let these important historical documents disappear, Green led a very public campaign to keep these papers out of the hands of private collectors. As the campaign wore on, Green began hinting to his closest friends and family that he was receiving threats and being followed. What happened next remains a mystery to this day.

What is fact and what is fiction? With multiple suspects and competing motives, Green’s death raises questions that may be answered only by Homes himself in a new play inspired by the true story of these Mysterious Circumstances.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCTION

Written and adapted for stage by Michael Mitnick (Fly by Night, The Siegel) and directed by Matt Shakman (Bad Jews, Wait Until Dark, Good People), Mysterious Circumstances makes its world premiere June 11 — July 14, and marks the final production of Shakman’s first year as Artistic Director of the Geffen Playhouse.

Theatrical magic plays a featured role in this production with scenic design by Brett J. Banakis (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) and illusion design by world-renown magicians Francis Menotti and David Kwong.

"Mysterious Circumstances" Cast

Hugo Armstrong

(The American and others)

(he/him)

Hugo Armstrong was most recently seen in Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 at the Mark Taper Forum, Uncle Vanya at Pasadena Playhouse, and Power of Sail here at the Geffen Playhouse. TV includes recurring roles on Bosch: Legacy and NCIS as well as stints on True Lies, The Blacklist, Room 104, and Fear the Walking Dead. Movies include Lucky, Coherence, Roman J. Israel, Esq., and Daniel Martinico’s OK, Good and Excursions. Recent VO includes podcast series DUST, Agent Stoker, and Blood Weed on Audible Originals, as well as voices for Cinema Toast and the MCU. He’s recurring on the Oldhead Two Hour Radio Hour on Blast Radio, and is a CalArts grad.

John Bobek

(Chester and others)

Mysterious Circumstances is his Geffen Playhouse debut. With Antaeus Theatre Company: Diana of Dobson’s, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Three Days In The Country,As You Like It, The Hothouse. L.A. theater: Skullduggery: The Musical Prequel to Hamlet, DISASTEROID! (Sacred Fools Theater Company); Stupid F**king Bird(Theatre @ Boston Court, U/S); Mental: The Musical (Edgemar Center for the Arts). Television: A Series of Unfortunate Events, American Crime, Longmire, Battle Creek,The West Wing, Rizzoli & Isles, Criminal Minds, How I Met Your Mother, Happy Endings, Castle. Film: When a Stranger Calls, Stomping Ground, Freshwater, Recoil.His original music is available under John Bobek on iTunes, Google Play, YouTube, Spotify, BandCamp. B.A. Theatre Arts, Marquette University. Proud member of The Antaeus Company, Sacred Fools and The Collaborative. Represented by The Glick Agency. Managed by Perry Zimel.

Austin Durant

(Conan Doyle and others)

Broadway: Macbeth; War Horse; You Can’t Take It With You. Public Theater: Much Ado About Nothing; A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Classic Stage Company: Nathan The Wise. LCT3: War. Yale Repertory Theatre: Assassins; Hamlet; Death of a Salesman; Passion Play; American Night. The Old Globe: Anna Christie; Comedy of Errors. Intiman Theatre: A Doctor In Spite of Himself. The Prototype Festival 2019: The Infinite Hotel. Berkshire Theatre Group: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; The Illusion; Oklahoma! Television: Search Party, Succession, The Good Fight, Elementary, Nurse Jackie, Person of Interest. B.A. Temple University. M.F.A. Yale School of Drama.

Leo Marks

(Smith and others)

Leo Marks recently appeared as Shylock in Sarah Mantell’s Everything That Never Happened at the Theater @ Boston Court, directed by Jessica Kubzansky. Other world premieres include Bill Cain’s How to Write a New Book for the Bible (Berkeley Rep and Seattle Rep), Charles Mee’s A Perfect Wedding (Kirk Douglas Theatre), Julia Cho’s The Language Archive (South Coast Repertory), Noah Haidle’s Smokefall(South Coast Repertory) and John Strand’s Lincolnesque (Old Globe). Other credits include Cymbeline (Shakespeare Theatre Company), The Royale (Cleveland Play House), Love and Information, (A.C.T.’s The Strand), Jack Burden in All the King’s Men (Intiman Theater), Dead End (Ahmanson Theatre) and productions at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Playwrights Horizons, Pasadena Playhouse and Alley Theater. He’s a member of LA’s Antaeus Theater Company and a founding member of NYC’s Elevator Repair Service. Obie Award, Heather Woodbury’s Tale of 2Cities. LA Ovation and Stage Raw nominations, The Hothouse. Television/film credits include The Last Tycoon and the lead in the indie feature film The Maestro.

Ramiz Monsef

(Watson and others)

(he/him)

Ramiz is an alumnus of The Writers’ Room at Geffen Playhouse, where The Ants was developed. It also was developed at the Ojai Playwrights Conference in 2021. Ramiz is co-author of the musical The Unfortunates produced at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and A.C.T. in San Francisco. He wrote that show’s accompanying graphic novel as well. He also co-wrote The Many Deaths of Nathan Stubblefield, which premiered in the 2017 Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville. His play 3 Farids was part of The Bushwick Starr reading series and selected to be in the New Works Festival at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, the DNA New Work Series at La Jolla Playhouse, and at Playwrights Horizons. Ramiz is an actor and has appeared in major theatres across the country, most recently playing the title role in Rajiv Joseph’s Letters of Suresh off-Broadway at Second Stage Theater, numerous television series including NCIS, S.W.A.T., SEAL Team, Kidding, Shameless, Modern Family, and Young Sheldon. He is also in the film Synchronic. Ramiz would like to thank Rachel Wiegardt-Egel, as well as Bob Egan at Ojai, for their championing of this piece. Ramiz is a former member of the Evolving Playwrights Group at Circle X Theatre Co., and a current member of the L.A. Writers’ Workshop at Center Theatre Group, here in Los Angeles.

Helen Sadler

(Touie and others)

Helen Sadler recently appeared in Photograph 51 at South Coast Repertory, playing “Dr. Rosalind Franklin.” Other credits include One Man, Two Guv’nors, a co-production with Berkeley Rep, and The Whale (South Coast Repertory); The Night Alive and Tribes (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); Blood Wedding (Lookingglass Theatre Company); Daniel Deronda (L.A. Theatre Works); Cymbeline (A Noise Within); Sense and Sensibility (Actors Theatre of Louisville and Northlight Theatre); The Maids (Writers Theatre); Blasted (A Red Orchid Theatre); Buried Child and A Taste of Honey (Shattered Globe Theatre); War (Chicago Irish Theatre). Television/film: “Sonnie” in Love, Death and Robots: Sonnie’s Edge (Netflix); Criminal Minds; NCIS; Revenge;True Blood; Thrill Ride; Too Late; Contagion. Voice: “Jyn Erso” in Star Wars: Forces of Destiny (LucasFilm) and “Rey” in Lego Star Wars: Rey Strikes Back (Disney XD), and multiple video games.

Alan Tudyk

(Richard Lancelyn Green / Sherlock Holmes)

Alan Tudyk could be seen on Broadway in Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Prelude to a Kiss; Spamalot playing Lancelot with the original cast, minus the actor who previously played Lancelot; and Epic Proportions with Kristin Chenoweth. Off-Broadway credits include: David Lindsay-Abaire’s Wonder of the World, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Misalliance and Bunny Bunny. Alan’s film credits include K-2SO in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Death at a Funeral, 3:10 to Yuma, Knocked Up, A Knight’s Tale and DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story. Alan won an Annie Award for Voice Acting in a Feature Production for his work as King Candy in Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph, and has voiced roles in Frozen, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, Moana and Ralph Breaks the Internet. Television: Firefly, Suburgatory, Powerless and Con Man, for which he earned an Emmy nomination. In death, Alan will be survived by his beautiful, loving wife Charissa and two of his three dogs.