Ryan Brennecke / The BulletinThe cast of "Panic" rehearses a scene at Cascades Theatre in preparation for an upcoming show.

Things are going pretty well in the life of Henry Lockwood — a famed film noir director also known as “the sultan of suspense” — until a mysterious young actor shows up to his Parisian hotel accusing him of a heinous crime.

She has proof, and she’s not afraid to use it. As the suspense mounts, Lockwood’s life begins to resemble something from the movies — unfortunately for him, that would be one of his movies.

“Panic,” by Joseph Goodrich, opens tonight at Cascades Theatre in Bend (see “If you go”). Its events take place in Paris during August 1963, where the veteran director — played by Tracy James Anderson — is set to attend the opening of his latest film.

“All of the action takes place in an elegant hotel suite overlooking the Champs-Élysées,” explained the play’s director, Liam O’Sruitheain. “Lockwood is a famous film director a la Alfred Hitchcock, François Truffaut … and he’s famous for making mystery-suspense films. He does a lot of work in Europe and in France, and he spends a lot of time in Paris.”

During this particular trip, Lockwood has been spending time with French film critic Alain Duplay (Will Futterman). Duplay, who’s a frustrated, would-be filmmaker, is working on a profile about Lockwood for a French film magazine.

“He and Alain Duplay … have become friends, and they are about to leave for one evening to go to (Lockwood’s) premiere,” O’Sruitheain explained.

“They’ve been recording their conversations on an old period reel-to-reel tape recorder. Miriam, Lockwood’s secretary and personal assistant is transcribing the conversations.”

While Lockwood and Duplay head off to the red carpet, Miriam (Skye Stafford) stays behind in the hotel with Lockwood’s sickly wife, Emma (Patricia West Del Ruth).

“Emma … is in frail physical condition, and he’s concerned about her,” O’Sruitheain said.

“There’s one other character, the character of a mysterious woman,” he said. “Actually, two other characters, who are supposedly sisters.” (At least one of them is played by Tori Miller.)

“They come out of nowhere and claim they know Lockwood from his past, from a year previous. They’re French, and they accuse Lockwood of having attacked one of them. They accuse him of a serious crime a year before.”

Lockwood’s reputation is on the line, and by extension, his career. His reaction to the accusation is complicated. As Oscar Wilde wrote, “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”

“Panic” comes off as a love letter to suspense and cinema, and that’s no coincidence: In a 2011 interview with writer Matt DiCintio, playwright Goodrich called it his tribute to the mystery form and one of its greatest practitioners, Alfred Hitchcock.

O’Sruitheain, a member of Cascades Theatrical Co.’s play selection committee, said it was Goodrich’s writing that drew him to direct “Panic.”

“We read a number of different plays in the genre and decided on this one because it’s a pretty sharp play. It’s well-written,” he said.

So well-written, in fact, that “Panic” continues to surprise — even after certain parties have fessed up to their misdeeds.

— Reporter: 541-383-0349, djasper@bendbulletin.com