To see Broadway's longest-running mystery and thriller, complete with more twists and turns in its characters and plot than a candidate in a presidential debate, most people have to travel to New York.

Luckily for State College, this weekend, it's right on campus.

No Refund Theater (NRT) will present Ira Levin's Deathtrap, the longest-running Broadway mystery to date, at 8 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday in 111 Forum.

Levin, who also wrote The Stepford Wives, introduced Deathtrap to the stage in 1978, and later to cinema in a movie starring Christopher Reeve and Michael Caine. It was Levin's enticing and award-winning writing that drew director Matt Brind'Amour (senior-architecture) to the play.

"I saw the film awhile ago, which gave me the idea," Brind'Amour said. "The movie was great but the script was awesome. There are so many twists and turns and it's so well written. The writing is really what drew me to it."

Deathtrap spirals around the accomplished-but-fading playwright Sidney Bruhl and his former student Clifford Anderson. Anderson sends Bruhl a very promising script for review, prompting the elder writer to contemplate ways to relieve his former pupil of it.

"Sidney Bruhl is a middle-aged playwright who used to be on top of his game," said Penn State alumnus Eric Leslie, who plays Bruhl. "When he receives a promising skit from his former student, he faces a decision on what to do with that."

It is the interaction of these characters, Brind'Amour said, that drives Deathtrap and has made it a classic. Finding the right actors to play the roles was key to the production's success.

"If you get the right actors," Brind'Amour said, "you take a script that's really well written and make it so much better. We've put together a great cast and things have gone really well."

Assistant Director Jason Lally (senior-information sciences and technology) agreed that developing the play's characters en-hances the already strong story.

"This is a show that's really character-intense," Lally said. "It's a lot more than just memorizing lines. This is a very good story that works in levels and layers. It's hard to imagine writing something like this ... It's very gripping."

David-Preston Dent (junior-political science) plays Clifford and said the depth of each character allows for the play's many plot twists and betrayals.

"Clifford comes off as an honest, upstanding guy," Dent said. "He's pleasant and polite but as the play goes on you see that he's one bad guy. He's not a trustworthy guy at all."

In addition to being a thriller, Deathtrap also encompasses some elements of comedy that bring another dimension of entertainment to the play.

"It's funny but kind of a black humor," Leslie said. "The humor is not overt, perhaps a bit wry, but there are definitely some funny elements. These are two very serious characters, but they get themselves into some situations that are quite comical, maybe not to them but certainly to the audience."

By combining all of these elements, Levin wrote a play that has captivated audiences for decades. Dent said the same will hold true this weekend.

"You definitely will not be bored," he said. "From the first scene, people will be into it and it keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time."