'The 39 Steps' It’s not often you come across a play that’s both a tongue-in-cheek tribute to cinema’s original horror auteur and an endurance test for all actors involved. But such is Patrick Barlow’s Olivier Award-winning The 39 Steps, performed this week by the Middlebury Community Players. This adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s groundbreaking 1935 thriller — a famously twisty, multicountry escapade featuring more than 30 characters — requires every part to be shared between just four actors. Directed by Gary Gillen and starring the brave Rainwalker Winterpainter, Jillian Torres, Kevin Commins and Rob Demic, this spoofy homage turns a classic spy drama into a gut-busting riot.