STAGE TUBE: Five Minutes with Trinity Rep's CRIME AND PUNISHMENT Director Brian Mertes

Trinity Rep leaps into 2013 with a bold retelling of Dostoyevsky's classic psychological novel Crime and Punishment, directed by Brian Mertes. Opening in previews on January 17 and running through February 24 at Trinity Rep, co-adaptors Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus have spun Dostoyevsky's complex story into a 90-minute, three actor tour-de-force with a modern, poetic flair. Moving seamlessly between past and present, the play's tension - will a man get away with murder? Should he? - builds to an explosive climax.

Below, spend five minutes with director Brian Mertes as he gives you insight into his dark and thrilling retelling of Dostoyevsky's classic tale!

The three-person cast features TV film and stage actor Dan Butler in his first return to the Trinity Rep stage after a 28-year hiatus. A member of Trinity Rep's resident acting from 1978-1984, Butler is instantly recognizable from numerous film and television appearances, including his six season role as the hyperkinetic sportscaster, Bulldog on Frasier. Butler plays astute detective Porfiry who is doggedly determined to solve a grisly murder.

Current Trinity Rep resident company member Stephen Thorne plays Raskolnikov, the former student who commits a heinous crime and is then wracked with guilt over his actions. Rachel Christopher rounds out the cast as the prostitute Sonia, the self-sacrificing young woman who becomes a source of strength and rehabilitation to the tortured Raskolnikov. Ms. Christopher was Alma in Yellowman and 2011 graduate of the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Acting program.

Regular and discounted tickets for Crime and Punishment are on sale now at the Trinity Rep box office, 201 Washington St.; by phone at (401) 351-4242; and online at www.trinityrep.com.

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