HALLOWELL — Gaslight Theater’s production of “The Bat” by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood is taking shape in rehearsals. The Theater will present this mystery on Fridays and Saturdays, June 13, 14 and 20, 21 at 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday matinees June 15 and 22 at 2 p.m. at Hallowell City Hall, One Winthrop Street.

For the first time, the June 13 opening performance will feature an American Sign Language  interpretation.

The plot follows Cornelia Van Gorder (Jen Cart) who has rented a summer house from Richard Fleming (Henrik Strandskov) who has just inherited it from his dead brother, a banker.

Cornelia intends to spend a quiet summer with her excitable maid Lizzie (Deborah Howard) and lovely niece Dale (Abigail Crocker). Instead, she finds a house full of strange noises, lights and Doctor Wells (Raymond Fletcher) warns that mysterious things are happening and urges her to leave the house, but instead, she asks a detective from the city (Frank Omar) to come to the house and investigate. All the while, Cornelia conducts her own investigation, convinced that a super-criminal, The Bat, is to blame for all the mysterious happenings.

Who is the handsome young gardener with impeccable grammar (Jason Laptewicz)? What is the pompous man-about-town Reggie Beresford (George Dunn) doing skulking about the house in the dead of night? And who is the Unknown Man (Bob Collins) who stumbles half-dead into the drawing room? And the most pressing question of all: is this all the work of The Bat?

In this popular American mystery play, incident is piled on incident with skill and plausibility, and it is impossible to know who the real criminal is until the final curtain.

Lynette Miller directs, Linda Duarte assists and stage manages, and Jenny Benjamin-Rider produces.

In late October of 1940, the Augusta Players, now performing as The Gaslight Theater, first performed “The Bat” at the Cony High School Alumni Auditorium with an after performance buffet at the Augusta House, sponsored by the players. The play was directed by Augusta Players founder Maybelle Tarr.

Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for students and seniors 60 and up. Reservations are recommended. Call 207-626-2698, or make reservations online at www.gaslighttheater.org