Interview with Mathew Salazar-Thompson   

By Mimi Sells

March 1, 2026

What happens when you cross Dashiel Hammett’s classic noir detective novel The Maltese Falcon with the creative comedy chops of Playwright Matthew Salazar-Thompson?  

What you  get is a fast-talking, fever-paced and trope-defying reimagination of the 1930’s hard-boiled, crime genre. And you get a World Premiere play at North Coast Repertory Theatre (NCRT) in Solana Beach starting March 4.

Excitement– and ticket sales– for this newly-conceived The Maltese Falcon adaptation have been so strong that the run has already been extended to April 5. And future productions in other cities are on the calendar! See it first at the North Coast Repertory Theatre.

While the show doesn’t officially open until March 4, I had the pleasure of learning more about the play, its origins and its creator in a recent conversation with Playwright Salazar-Thompson (MST).

What inspired you to rewrite this classic story? 

MST: I started thinking about this project  during Covid. I had read The Maltese Falcon as a teenager and loved it before I watched either the 1931 or 1941 film version. So, I started thinking about writing a straight up adaption that would work with North Coast Rep’s theatrical strengths.  I thought, why not do it as a comedy using only five characters playing multiple parts.

I wanted to create an homage to the film noir genre just as Airplane and The Naked Gun spoofed their genres. Our play has fun with the traditional seriousness and darkness of the 1940’s film noir genre.

How exactly did you conceive of this new version?

MST: I started with examining and stretching the character of the hard-boiled detective. The antihero hero personified by Sam Spade. Then we needed the calculating femme fatale. We really leaned into and exaggerated those archetypal characters of the 1930s. 

Were there any issues with this adaptation? Aren’t there copyright issues in using Dashiel Hammet’s book?

MST: Since the novel was written in 1929, it fell into public domain this year –2026.  This made it possible for me to write the play I wanted to see.

The Maltese Falcon is so well known for the 1941 movie starring Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor. Weren’t you concerned about upsetting audiences’ expectations? 

MST: We’ve been very clear in all the marketing that this is indeed a comedy. And fans of NCRT know how well we showcase comedies. In this play, there’s lots of verbal banter, funny metaphors and similes plus lots of physical comedy.  But there’s also some grounded and serious moments.

Can we look forward to any signature phrases of The Maltese Falcon in your show?

MST: Oh yes, if you loved the book or the movie, you’ll find a plethora of fantastic lines and iconic quotes. And, we hope, lots of laughs.

You’ve been involved with North Coast Rep for a long time. Was it hard to bring this work to life?

MST: I’ve previously worked at NCRT as a main stage actor and director and have been commissioned to write other material including Ted Williams: A Tip of the Capas well as the co-authored musical Mistletoe, Music and Mayhem! which ran for a couple of holiday seasons.

When I brought my early script for The Maltese Falcon to the artistic team at NCRT, I had requested that I only wanted to focus on writing the best play that I could. 

We workshopped this project in a collaborative process with the directors and some of the cast a few months before rehearsals began. It’s one of the things I love about writing plays—the collaborative opportunity to work with others to create art.  I feel that we have definitely done this with the world premiere of The Maltese Falcon.

The Maltese Falcon
Written by Matthew Salazar-Thompson
Directed by Todd Nielsen
March 4-April 5
North Coast Repertory Theatre
987 Lomas Santa Fe Dr D
Solana Beach, CA 92075