Laura Hunt is every man’s ideal woman. Besides being stunningly beautiful she has a shining personality. The problem is she’s been murdered.
In the staging of the play Laura, put on by Spark Theater, the audience takes a ride with detective Mark McPherson, who has to interview friends, acquaintances and ex-lovers to see who is responsible for her death. While he puts the pieces of this puzzle together, Laura’s perfection, even in a portrait, has McPherson falling head over heels for Laura himself.
Spark Theater has done quite a few murder mysteries before including Rear Window and Rebecca.
“I chose Laura this season because it’s another of the great mysteries with an unusual plot twist and I just happen to love the 1944 movie,” said Becky Palmeri, executive director and founder of the Spark Theater in Denver.
“Laura is a name that is known to many by the movie, but not so mainstream that it’s been done over and over,” Palmeri said.
The story was originally written by Vera Caspary and George Sklar to be a stage play, with the title Ring Twince for Laura. Due to lack of funds it never was put into production. Years later 20th Century Fox produced a slightly different version of Laura for the film, Palmeri explains.
Spark Theater is a small, intimate open room theater.
“We don’t have any stage separation between the audience and the actors so the audience gets to actually sit right inside Laura’s living room as the story unfolds,” Palmeri said.
The play is directed by Linda Suttle, who needed to mold the classic style of film noir to the stage.
“There’s only so much you can do onstage because one of the great things was shadows and you can’t create a lot of shadows or camera angles, so it’s my homage. I decided to make everything black and white,” Suttle said. “We understand that we can’t do a lot of things, but we capture the attitude, that dark and steamy side of life.”
It’s not just about the fun of film noir or murder mystery.
Suttle explains, “It’s not just about doing a stylized version of film noir, it’s a great story. Everybody loves a good mystery.”
The show premiers July 26 and runs through August 24. Tickets are $15 to $20. Visit www.sparktheater.org for more information. 
