THE ORINDA STARLIGHT VILLAGE PLAYERS, an all-volunteer theater troupe that performs each summer in the city’s Community Park, opened its 2015 season Thursday with Dame Agatha Christie’s first published dramatic work, “Black Coffee,” featuring long-time OSVP lead man Ken Sollazzo in the role of Christie’s most enduring character, detective Hercule Poirot.

Though Poirot appears in 33 of her novels, “Black Coffee” is the only one of the author’s stage plays to feature the savvy crime solver. Sollazzo brings him to life here with charm and the requisite wry humor, and Bailie Simpson is appropriately feminine and mysterious as the Amory family’s new Italian in-law, Lucia.

When Sir Claud Amory (John Chapin) discovers that the plans for his promising new scientific invention have been stolen from the safe in his study, he determines that everyone who might possibly have had the opportunity to break into the safe is currently at his home, so he orders his butler (Tom Westlake as Tredwell) to lock all of the doors from the outside until he can discover the thief’s identity and reclaim his property.

Unfortunately, just after Sir Claud announces his intentions to the household, he suddenly and inexplicably keels over in his chair. When Poirot arrives a few minutes later expecting to help Sir Claud find his thief, Lucia asks him to stay — not only to carry out her father-in-law’s initial request but also to solve the mystery of his unexpected demise.

Lisa Marie Taylor is sassy and abrupt as Sir Claud’s daughter Barbara Amory. In fact, at Friday night’s performance, the character seemed so modern that it had the unfortunate effect of reminding me that I was sitting in a park in 2015, thus drawing my attention away from the world of the Amory family’s 1920s English drawing room. Taylor’s portrayal may fit the Christie characterization, but it felt oddly out of place on Friday.

Veteran OSVP player Marion Simpson is charming as usual in the role of fussy family matron Miss Caroline, who comforts her distressed daughter-in-law but annoys just about everyone else with her polite but persistent chit-chat. Kyle Goldman is a duly suspicious and greasy Dr. Carrelli, an Italian visitor who takes a curious and unwelcome interest in Lucia. Nicholas Hargrave rounds out the suspect list as Sir Claud’s executive assistant Edward Raynor.

Several signature Poirot-tale features are exaggerated in the play with almost trite dialogue, but to hear it all knowing that the play was the first of its kind, the otherwise patronizing nods to the Poirot books come across as delightful reminders of Christie’s particular storytelling genius.

The Starlight Players specialize in the plays of Agatha Christie, but they usually offer at least one non-Christie play each season. Next month, beginning July 24, the Players will open Louis Flynn’s madcap comedy, “Madness on Madrona Drive.” It wouldn’t spoil things to say that Louise, her brother and her maid make a number of half-baked attempts to foil three villains who hold them captive in their home, yet still somehow manage to avert disaster just in the nick of time.

Meanwhile, go and enjoy some “Black Coffee” in the beautiful, tree-surrounded enclave that is the Orinda Starlight Village Players stage. It gets chilly in Orinda at night, though, so go prepared with a lap blanket and hat. Hot beverages and other refreshments are available on site, as are extra blankets and cushions for the cement tier seating.

It’s always a pleasure to see a play in the park, and the Starlight Players deliver the fun with joy and gusto. What better way to spend a summer evening, and support community theater in the process? Enjoy!

If You Go
“Black Coffee” continues at the Orinda Community Center Park, 28 Orinda Way, Orinda through July 4. Tickets are $20 to $35 and are available by calling 925-528-9225 or online at www.orsvp.org.

Elizabeth Warnimont is a freelance writer specializing in the performing arts. She is also a substitute teacher for the Benicia Unified School District.