Terry Brino-Dean, Ph.D., associate professor of theatre and director of the theatre program at Seton Hill University, will direct the world premiere of the stage adaptation of “The Westing Game,” by Ellen Raskin. The playwright is Darian Lindle of Seattle, Wa.

Brino-Dean will workshop the play at Seton Hill University February 27-March 1. A public reading will be held on Sunday, March 1, at 7 p.m. in the studio theatre in St. Mary Hall, located on Seton Hill University’s Greensburg, Pa. campus. Seton Hill University theatre program faculty and students will be involved with this production.

“The Westing Game,” a 1978 family mystery novel with a culturally diverse cast of 16 characters, won a Newbery Medal in 1979. The 16 characters live or work in the Sunset Towers apartment building and are summoned to the reading of the will of the wealthy industrialist Samuel W. Westing. The will is in the form of a puzzle, dividing the 16 heirs into eight pairs. Each pair has a unique set of clues. The clues lead the heirs in solving the mystery of which one of the 16 heirs killed Westing. The heir who solves the mystery inherits Westing’s fortune.

There is no fee to attend the public reading at Seton Hill University, however, seats are limited.

“The Westing Game” premieres May 2-10 at the North Side’s New Hazlett Theatre.

The Seton Hill University Theatre Program has a long history of educating theatre majors for careers in the professional theatre while playing a vital role in the educational life of the campus. Seton Hill’s Theatre Program offers four full-length productions (as well as a number of shorter works) each year that generate audiences of over 3,500 and speak to topics addressed in courses across Seton Hill’s curriculum. For more information on the Theatre Program at Seton Hill, please visit www.setonhill.edu or call 724-830-0300.