Charleston Stage will produce Shear Madness as the first show debuting in their new 130-seat performance space, The Pearl Theatre, at the West Ashley Theatre Center.
The madness erupts at your not-so-typical New York hair salon, when suddenly the old lady upstairs gets mysteriously murdered and everyone’s dying to know, whodunit? The audience combs through the clues, questioning the suspects. And the best part? It’s different every time you see it!

“Each show is completely different,” says Shear Madness Director Jesse Siak, “because over one hundred audience members change every night. The actors onstage take fifty percent of what they worked on in rehearsal, throw it out the window, and take whatever the audience gives them, gladly and with excitement. This happens every night, every show. The show is only as good as its audience, and thank GOD Charlestonians are such wonderful audience members.”

Written by German playwright Paul Pörtner in 1963 and originally titled Scherenschnitt, the stage version was adapted by Bruce Jordan and Marilyn Abrams. These two New York actors anticipated the trend for interactive theater and acquired the world stage, film and television rights to make this obscure murder mystery hit.