On Friday, October 23, at 7:00pm, a Vermont-connected cast will bring The Trouble with Harry to life in a one-night-only live screenplay reading at the Latchis.

Tom Bodett, Myra Flynn, Jeanine B. Frost and Chris Dorman are among the cast. Additional casting will be revealed in the lead-up to the performance, with a few surprises possibly saved for the stage itself. The Alfred Hitchcock-directed film then returns to the Latchis screen Sunday, November 8, for a special screening and community conversation led by filmmaker Bess O’Brien (Every Day: Big and Small).

On October 23, the actors will step onstage, scripts in hand, and take their places at music stands and microphones. No elaborate sets or months of rehearsal — just the screenplay, the cast and a live audience discovering and rediscovering the story together in the Latchis’ historic Main Theatre.

On Sunday, November 8, audiences are invited back to the Latchis for a 2 p.m. screening of the film itself, followed by a community conversation led by Bess O’Brien, with Jeanine B. Frost and additional participants to be announced.

Tom Bodett, author and frequent panelist on NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, will serve as the Narrator, guiding audiences through the screenplay’s action, Vermont landscape and increasingly matter-of-fact encounters with one very inconvenient corpse: Harry Worp. Singer-songwriter and journalist Myra Flynn will read Jennifer Rogers, the role originated onscreen by Shirley MacLaine in her feature-film debut. Southern Vermont–based actor, writer and director Jeanine B. Frost joins the ensemble as Mrs. Wiggs. Chris Dorman — musician, early childhood educator and star of Vermont Public’s Emmy-winning Mister Chris and Friends — steps into the role of Arnie Rogers, originated by Jerry Mathers, proving that in Hollywood, VT, the kids-at-heart get cast, too.

The creative collaboration extends beyond the cast, with Vermont artists Rachi Farrow and Hettie Stearns contributing original visual elements to the project.

A dead body in the woods of the fictional Vermont town of Highwater is where the trouble begins. Several neighbors suspect they may be responsible for Harry Worp’s death. Their response, however, is less panic than practical inconvenience. Harry is buried, unburied and moved repeatedly while friendship and romance unfold around him.

Part mystery, part romantic comedy, and entirely peculiar, The Trouble with Harry began as a novel by British writer Jack Trevor Story, adapted for the screen by John Michael Hayes. Hitchcock’s film was shot largely in Vermont in 1954 and had its world premiere in Barre the following year. More than 70 years later, audiences can encounter the story first from the script page — and then see how Hitchcock and his collaborators translated it to the screen.

On Sunday, November 8, audiences are invited back to the Latchis for the film, followed by a community conversation led by Bess O’Brien, with Jeanine B. Frost and additional participants to be announced.

Tickets for Friday, October 23 at 7 p.m., for the Hollywood, VT: The Trouble with Harry — Live Screenplay Reading are $20 (Neighbor) $30 (Witness) and $50 (Accomplice), available in advance at https://app.arts-people.com/?show=363446.

Tickets for the Sunday, November 8 at 2 p.m. The Trouble with Harry — Film Screening + Community Conversation are $16, available in advance at at https://app.arts-people.com/?show=363578.

Tickets for the Double Trouble Two-Event Package are $30 (Neigbor), $40 (Witness) and $60 (Accomplice) are available here: https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?subscription=larts

The 1955 film stars Shirley MacLaine, Edmund Gwenn, John Forsythe, Mildred Natwick, Mildred Dunnock and a young Jerry Mathers, with costumes by eight-time Academy Award winner Edith Head. In 2012, The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw called it Hitchcock’s “lost masterpiece.”

The two-event Hollywood, VT program is produced by Alia Quart Khan through On Goldfish Pond Creative, managing producer Kady Kamakaté, in partnership with Latchis Arts at the Latchis Theatre.

Ticket holders can also step into the film’s distinctive 1950s world with Morning Glorious Vintage: show your ticket and mention “Harry Worp” at checkout for 20% off an item for a limited time.

Because this is a project made by people who consider “The End” just the beginning of the credits, the many partners helping bring The Trouble with Harry back to Vermont are integral to the team.
Grant Supporters: Vermont Community Foundation’s Spark Program and the John M. Bissell Foundation
Fiscal Sponsor: Black River Innovation Campus (BRIC)
Media Partner: Vermont Public
Community Outreach Partners: Vermont Professionals of Color Network, The Root Social Justice Center, Vermont Production Collective and Vermont Womenpreneurs
Style Partner: Morning Glorious Vintage
Additional Support: 802 Credit Union

There’s still room in the credits. We’re continuing to welcome select sponsors, community partners and in-kind collaborators interested in helping bring the project to life. Interested in joining us? Please contact Jon Potter at jon@latchisarts.org or 802-254-1109.

Hollywood, VT is an event series produced by On Goldfish Pond Creative that revisits Vermont-connected works through film, live performance and creative collaboration. By bringing different people into the room — artists and audiences alike — the series creates opportunities to rediscover familiar stories, make unexpected connections and continue the conversation together.