FREEPORT – Freeport Players opened the 2013 season with “The 39 Steps” last Friday, with four actors playing dozens of characters in a fast-paced comedic send-up and homage to thrillers and film noire, based on the classic Hitchcock film of the same name.

Set in the late 1930s, the production stars Christopher Holt as Richard Hannay, the handsome Englishman with the pencil-thin mustache whose evening at the theater embroils him in murder and international intrigue. Chelsea Cook plays Annabella, the darkly mysterious woman who involves Hannay in the plot; innocent Scottish lass Margaret; and independent Pamela, whom Hannay drags into the action. Eric Worthley and Bill McDonough round out the cast, playing the dozens of characters Hannay encounters in his flight across England and Scotland to elude capture and unravel the secret of The 39 Steps.

The cast is directed by Daniel Burson, whose directorial credits include “Mary’s Wedding” at Portland Stage, “I Hate Hamlet” at Freeport Players, and “Swimming In The Shallows” at Dramatic Repertory Company.

Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays 2 p.m. through Aug. 4 at Freeport Performing Arts Center, 30 Holbrook St. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door. Advance tickets are available online at www.fcponline.org or in person at the Freeport Community Center Thrift Store on Depot Street.

For more about this show or to purchase tickets, visit Freeport Players at www.fcponline.org.

Bill McDonough and Eric Worthley play dozens of characters in “The 39 Steps,” now being performed by the Freeport Players.