We want to believe that serendipity brings us together, but is that just a myth? Mining the comedy of missed connections, THIS RANDOM WORLD asks the serious question of how often we travel parallel paths through the world without noticing. From an ailing woman who plans one final trip, to her daughter planning one great escape and her son falling prey to a prank gone wrong, this funny, intimate, and heartbreaking play explores the lives that may be happening just out of reach of our own.

EPSG:4326

This Random World: The Myth of Serendipity

University of California, Berkeley

The twin sister of Captain Hasting’s wife, Dulcie, has been kidnapped — and Hercule Poirot rightly expects not only extortion to follow, but murder! Using elements of Agatha Christie’s “Poirot Investigates,” Steven Dietz creates a sequel to his wildly popular Murder on the Links, taking us on a thrilling and dangerous trip to the snow-capped Alps where the famed Belgian detective may finally meet his match. Six actors bring to life dozens of eccentric characters and clever suspects in this diabolically funny comic mystery romp. Don’t miss it!

Peril in the Alps

Lomas Sante Fe Plaza

Four hundred years ago, a desperate Apothecary sold poison to a heartsick boy named Romeo. This Apothecary – still alive in the present – is determined to atone for his part in the death of this boy and his beloved Juliet. Encountering a troubled young woman and a guileless young man, the Apothecary contrives to build a romantic love that cannot be destroyed … with dangerously emotional results. Vial Man is a lively theatrical concoction of magic, loss and the consequences of true passion denied. What becomes of love that cannot say its name?

Vial Man (The Apothecary's Story)

Playwrights' Center

Ten strangers' sexual encounters reveal how primal human instincts can shatter the social constructs that bind one person to another. Provocative, funny, and highly theatrical, playwright Steven Dietz’s riveting re-imagining of Arthur Schnitzler’s 1903 banned play Reigen, places these lovers in the heart of contemporary America sexual politics.

American La Ronde

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

A simple silver bracelet travels through the lives of ten bold and desperate lovers, giving us a glimpse of the intrigue and heartache left in its wake. American La Ronde is a provocative and fully contemporary re-imagining of Schnitzler’s notorious play Reigen, also known as its French translation, La Ronde. Sexy, literate, emotional, and highly theatrical.

Steven Dietz

Events

Past events

5 - 6 Nov, 2025

This Random World: The Myth of Serendipity · UC Berkeley Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies

Apr 16 - May 11, 2025

Peril in the Alps · North Coast Rep

About

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