Meet Randy Petersen, author of THE RED LETTER LOCKER
Anything Can Happen
Prolific playwright Randy Petersen tackles time travel in his latest play, The Red Letter Locker.
Premiering November 17 and 18 at BTP’s Fall Showcase, this new one-act play by the local author transports Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to 2017 in a time machine built by his friend, H.G. Wells. Doyle meets a high school student, who’s been wrongfully accused of a crime, and helps her clear her name using Sherlockian deduction.
“This is a light, fun play that follows one character—high school student, Mia—on a path of self-discovery, with the help of a time-traveling author,” Petersen says. “Together they're solving a mystery, but Mia is also learning how to interact with her world.”
When approached by BTP to write a Sherlock-themed show, Petersen toyed with a few ideas, knowing that he wanted to include time travel. When he learned that Doyle and Wells, author of the classic novel The Time Machine, were friends, it clicked.
“A slight flight of fancy would allow Wells to actually build such a machine and Doyle to test it out,” Petersen muses. “Hey, it's theatre. Anything can happen.”
