BOONE—Appalachian State University’s Department of Theatre and Dance will present the first Front of the Curtain Festival Aug. 10-15 and 28-29 in Valborg Theatre on campus.

For more information about the Festival, including ticket prices, reservations and complete synopses of events, contact the theatre and dance box office at 262-3063 or Derek Gagnier at gagnierdp@appstate.edu.

The weeklong celebration of theatre and dance will feature four different events designed to engage a range of audiences interested in the performing arts.

The festival opens Aug. 10 -12 at 7:30 p.m. with Agatha Christie’s acclaimed mystery “The Mousetrap.” This humorous “who done it” play was the longest-running production ever produced in London. It is sure to thrill audiences with its whacky collection of eccentric characters shivering away a weekend in a snowbound English inn.

A strangler is on the loose, and tensions rise when a police officer arrives to announce all are suspects. Cut the phone lines and close the roads and you have a real thriller.

The cast includes theatre and dance faculty, students and community actors.

The second festival event is a faculty dance concert Aug. 13 and 14 at 7:30 p.m. in Valborg Theatre. Members of the dance faculty, alumni and community members will collaborate with faculty and local musicians to perform reconstructed and newly choreographed pieces.

On Sunday, Aug. 15, the festival will present a staged reading and post-reading discussion of theatre faculty member Joel Williams’ new play “Promises.” Set against the actual history of the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the building of Fontana Dam and the annual ritual of Decoration Days, the play explores the keeping and breaking of promises. The play is a heartwarming, poignant look at life in the South.

The reading begins in the Valborg Theatre at 2 p.m. and the discussion will follow. Faculty member emeritus Ed Pilkington directs the reading and moderates the discussion.

Clarinda Ross appears in her one-woman show “Spit Like a Big Girl” Aug. 28 at 7:30 p.m. and Aug. 29 at 2 p.m. in the Valborg Theatre. The play features three generations of charming and eccentric characters in its powerful, poignant and funny family portrait. Through this deeply personal story, audiences experience the hopes, pains and joys of parenthood, and realize that sometimes we learn to be grownups through our children.

Ross is an Appalachian alumna. She appears in the festival as an Actors Equity Association guest artist.