If you are looking for family entertainment that includes a healthy dose of murder, mayhem, deception and duplicity, then Deathtrap, the current offering of the Stage Company, is the play for you.

It’s really a sick and twisted plot, said Mary McDermott, a Carbondale resident who saw the play at its Oct. 3 opening performance. They make it seem like a kind of basic plot, but it is really a plot within a plot.

The twists and turns of Deathtrap will keep the audience guessing right up to the end.

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I had no knowledge of what was going to happen until it happened, McDermott said. They leave you hanging at the intermission between the first and second acts. The whole audience was trying to figure out what was going to happen next.

The Stage Company, 101 N. Washington St., was founded in 1982 by Joe Miller, an English teacher from Murphysboro, said Barbara Farris, the operations vice president for the Stage Company. Our first play was Inherit The Wind’ which we performed at the courthouse in Murphysboro, Farris said.

The Stage Company has grown considerably since then.

In 1983 the Bank of Carbondale offered us the Old Bank Building, which we renovated and is now a 96-seat theater, Farris said. We are now a very viable not-for-profit community theater group with its own theater, supported by ticket sales, patrons and sponsors.

In the days of dwindling federal and state funding for the arts, the Stage Company still manages to provide quality entertainment for the whole community.

This year we have given businesses the opportunity to co-sponsor or underwrite a particular performance, and we have met with great success with this, Farris said. We also have a strong pool of fine talent available to us in the local community, which has been a great help.

This talent isn’t limited to just actors. The stage company relies on the assistance of volunteers from the community for all aspects of its plays.

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We encourage people from the community to join us and help us with set design, finding props, working as a stage hand, doing lighting and sound or being an usher, Farris said.

Those community volunteers are apparently doing a good job in the Deathtrap.

The lighting was good. There is a scene with lighting and thunder that was very realistic. The costuming was good as well, McDermott said. The stage design was intentionally simple. Everything happens in one room, so it’s the same set all the way through.

While some of the play involves doom and gloom, at times it does have its humorous moments.

The character of Helga is great, McDermott said. She has this great accent. She is supposed to be this old grandma with ESP or something. She’s very funny and adds a lot of humor to the play.

I’ve gone to see plays put on at DuPage University, and this one was at least as good as those. The play is long, over two hours, but they really draw you in. I loved it.

Deathtrap will be performed at 8 tonight and Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $7 tonight and Saturday, and $5 for the Sunday matinee. For more information, or to purchase tickets, call the Stage Company box office at 549-5466.