Readers Theatre at Webster City Community Theatre has been a way for the organization to discover scripts that they might want to bring to the stage. Season after season, suggestions are made, scripts are read, and decisions are announced.

One of those opportunities is scheduled for Sunday, April 13, at the theatre’s Performing Arts Center, 1001 Willson Avenue, Webster City, with the reading of “Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express.”

The reading begins at 2 p.m.

Bring a snack to share and your own beverage.

Anyone interested in this informal reading of the script, adapted for the stage by Ken Ludwig, is encouraged to attend.

Get familiar with the story and how the characters interact with each other. Visualize the set, props, and costumes. Imagine the lights and sounds.

Then ask, “Is this a show that would fit the 2025-2026 season and do we have volunteers for the cast and crew?”

“Murder on the Orient Express” is set in 1934 aboard the luxurious train as it travels from Istanbul to Western Europe. The train is stopped by a snow drift, trapping the passengers inside. One of the travelers is detective Hercule Poirot who finds his holiday interrupted by the murder of Samuel Ratchett, a wealthy American tycoon. Who could have stabbed him multiple times in his compartment?

With his deductive skills, Poirot must uncover the killer among the passengers before they kill again. Every passenger has their own secrets and alibis, making each of them a potential suspect. The plot is loosely based on the Lindbergh baby’s kidnapping.

Other characters include Monsieur Bouc, Mary Debnham, Hector Macqueen, Michel the Conductor/Head Waiter, Princess Dragomiroff, Greta Ohlsson, Countess Andrenyi, Helen Hubbard, and Colonel Arbuthnot.