After having its opening weekend spoiled by the winter storm last weekend, The Stage Company will premiere “The 39 Steps” Dec. 13 – 15.

“The 39 Steps” debuts at the Varsity Center for the Arts and is an adaption of a John Buchan spy novel and Alfred Hitchcock film. The play offers fast-paced Monty Python-esque wittiness and features plenty of suspense and laughter, the production’s director Catherine Field said.

“I had forgotten how funny Alfred Hitchcock was,” Field said. “His movies are known for being carefully constructed and suspenseful, but they’re also mordantly funny. Much of the dialogue in our show is lifted verbatim from the movie…which has added slapstick, spoof and wit.”

The play concerns a British spy on the run after his partner is found dead. The spy also attempts to debunk a spy ring trying to steal classified information. Previous productions have won two Tony Awards in 2008 and received four other nominations.

The play was scheduled to open Dec. 6 – 8, but the winter storm that pounded the area pushed the premiere back a week. Field said the Varsity Center made the decision to cancel the show.

“Someone asked me about the old saying, ‘the show must go on,’” Field said. “I laughed and told him it wasn’t the show people who cancelled the show. The decision was made by those in charge of the facilities for the comfort and safety of the audience.”

However, despite the delays, Field assures that the cast and crew have been working hard to prepare.

“The cast and crew of a theatrical production are like athletes in training,” Field said. “We practice and we practice; and when we get the chance, we hit the mark.”

Because the Varsity Theater is overbooked with other events, there are no additional showings of “The 39 Steps” after this weekend despite the cancellations.

Field is still enthusiastic about the work the cast and crew have put in and is eager to show her rendition of the exhilarating comedic thriller.

“The Stage Company has been blessed with talent over its 30-some years,” she said. “It’s community theater, which means we all have day jobs; but after the sun goes down and the curtain comes up, we light up the sky.”

The show begins at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 13 and 14, with a Sunday matinee at 2:00 on Dec. 15. The box office will open an hour before the play.

There will also be an art display in the Varsity’s gallery before the show and during intermission. It features metal art by Roberta Elliott and fiber art by Karen Linduska.