WGBH Executive Arts Editor Jared Bowen joined Boston Public Radio on Wednesday to discuss the 40th anniversary of the historic Boston play, "Shear Madness."

"It's a really entertaining show set in a hair salon in Boston," Bowen said. "There's a big crime that happens, so halfway through the play it shifts, and suddenly the people in the play are interacting with the audience because they rely on the audience to help them find the clues to piece the crime together."

"Shear Madness" is recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records for longest running play in the United States, Bowen noted.

"It was based on a very serious German play actually, and this pair Marilyn Abrams and Bruce Jordan took it and they made it local and they made it funny and they made it audience participation," he said. "It's a local institution, it's a prize of Boston, and it's great that they're celebrating 40 years."