The Mysterious Affair at Styles: Ten Years On

Playmakers, Inc.
Covington, LA (2022)

St. Valentine’s Day, 2012. My adaptation of Agatha Christie’s first novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles, premiered at the Alcazar Hotel in Cleveland Heights. This would play become my first published script, and a significant moment in my life as a writer.

When it was announced that Great Lakes Theater would produce The Mousetrap at the Hanna Theatre in spring 2012, I proposed adapting one of Christie’s two (at that time) public domain works for the annual touring show. Writing this particular piece was an education for me in many ways.

For example, I had never read anything by Christie. I knew little about the First World War. I had never adapted a novel before, never written a mystery before, and I had to figure out how to present twelve characters with an allotted cast of five.

Chattanooga Theatre Centre
Chattanooga, TN (2018)

This was my sixth outreach tour as an actor, and my second as playwright. Our five person ensemble included actors I had worked with in previous tours, including Michael Gatto, Anne McEvoy and Emily Pucell Czarnota.

Two years earlier, Emily was in my play On the Dark Side of Twilight, a three-hander, with me and Dusten Welch. Our working dynamic was so familiar in that tour, that when we brought in an actor who was new to all of us for this production, we both kept calling him Dusten. That was James Rankin.

The good folks at Playscripts, Inc. chose to publish it the same year, and since that time there have been (to date) two dozen productions. Not an overwhelming number, but there are a few limitations to this particular adaptation which narrow the kind of organizations which might choose to present the show. It is brief, for one thing, no intermission.

Alaska Pacific Univ.
Anchorage, AK (2017)

Also, The Mysterious Affair at Styles is in the public domain in the United States only. There is a larger media company which manages the written work of Agatha Christie, and they carefully guard her copyrighted works. Copyright laws vary from nation to nation, and in the British Commonwealth, her work remains so.

"Loaded with many comedic moments."

- Ryan Jordan, University Echo, Chattanooga

So, no British productions. We learned this early on when an “am-dram” (as they say) licensed the work, announced auditions online, and almost immediately stated they were instead producing And Then There Were None.

Poughkeepsie Day School
Poughkeepsie, NY (2020)

Yet, within the fifty states (including Alaska) the piece is enjoying a healthy life at middle schools and high schools, as well as some fine community theater productions, most recently at a theater in the New Orleans region, and soon a charter school in D.C. It was written to have a flexible cast size (5 - 12 players, or more) and one basic drawing room set, making it a great choice for schools and smaller theaters.

To me, the most important element of the original production was when we found James to play Captain Hastings. James was only 22 at the time, and I had seen him in a production of Waiting For Lefty at Ensemble Theatre. In my script, Hasting rarely leaves the playing area, for as in the novel he is the narrator, letting the audience into the story.

"A thrill for any detective afficionado."

- Marjorie Preston, Sun Press, Cleveland

James Alexander Rankin
Great Lakes Theater
Cleveland, OH (2012)

Some twenty years my junior, he played the naive and at times foolish sidekick and sounding board to my Poirot with open-faced humor, and like Poirot and Hastings we swiftly became great friends. It was a particular delight to write my Much Ado About Nothing prequel Double Heart (The Courtship of Beatrice and Benedick) with Emily and James in mind as the young lovers. 

Next up, he is featured in the long-awaited video production of my solo performance I Hate This (a play without the baby), produced by Playhouse Square. The release of this production has been postponed as we work out the logistics of how best to use the piece as an educational product for medical professionals, and also as an aid to those who have experienced neonatal demise.

The Styles Affair? No, I'll never forget the Styles Affair.

“The Mysterious Affair at Styles” adapted by David Hansen from the novel by Agatha Christie is available from Playscripts, Inc.

On the Dark Side of Twilight: Firestone High School

Ten years ago, Great Lakes Theater produced my first outreach tour "On the Dark Side of Twilight."

Thursday, March 11, 2010

We closed today, our final performance was at Firestone High School. Always a favorite of mine, Mr. Z. has a vast number of dedicated performing arts students. Only "VPA" students (visual performing arts) are invited to the outreach tour performances, but at a school this size that still means we have at least 150 people in the audience. And they always get the real obscure stuff, too. There's a Winter's Tale reference in Dark Lady of the Sonnets and theirs was the only venue that got it.

Sure, it was early. 7:30 arrival for a 9:15 performance, but really, we had this down to a science. Until we discovered that their set for Sweeney Todd (opening next weekend!) was already built ... with a raked stage made of planks with half-to-three-quarter inch gaps between them.

Now, our set has been a little wobbly on the best days. Slamming that door made the whole set shake, gave it a real "Ed Wood" feel. But placing it on an incline seemed downright disastrous.

So we took every bungee cord we had, and strapped the thing to the floor. The spaces between boards was actually a benefit. We also got a number of extra stage weights from the school, and don't you know, the set was more secure than it had ever been, seriously solid.

Many students assisted getting everything together and tearing it apart. In between, it was a rollicking performance, the three of us were really pushing it for our final go-round. I think we even made some very wise discoveries. Hate doing that on closing night. Morning. Whatever.

The post-show discussion was very interesting, and went on for a while. What has been most interesting about these talkbacks was the opportunity for people to quiz the playwright, about writing, about rehearsing with the playwright there, editing, the future of the production, and so on.

A number of the students picked up on some of the minutiae of the play, about the conceit of using "found documents" (see: Dracula) the setting for the interview (see: Interview) even the origin of Lucy's name in the final arc (see: Dracula.)

After the show, Dusten, Emily and I had burgers at the Winking Lizard, and then it was off to dump the set and props, store all the education department materials, and return the van. And today was a beautiful, seventy degree day. The end of the tour always means the beginning of spring.

I am really going to miss this one, a lot.

On the Dark Side of Twilight: Akron Public Library, Northwest Branch

Ten years ago, Great Lakes Theater produced my first outreach tour "On the Dark Side of Twilight."

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Final public performance today at the Akron Public Library Northwest Branch. Always a great mix there.

It is usually a 1 PM performance and there are traditionally a number of seniors, members of reading groups, and maybe fifty or so high school students from Firestone who can't attend the performance we do at their school. That performance is tomorrow, that is our last performance of On the Dark Side of Twilight, period.

Today was good. There were odd things happening, my voice cracked at one point, Emily fell down backstage, and Dusten's Eddie just keeps getting dumber.

A woman came up to me after the performance and told me she doesn't like vampires, she doesn't know anything about vampires, but she liked the Chekhov plays last year so much that when she heard I was in this she just had to come. That made my afternoon ... and my afternoon needed making because I had a sinus headache sending a spike into my left eye.

One more performance, tomorrow. It's been an incredible run.

On the Dark Side of Twilight: Olde Towne Hall Theatre

Ten years ago, Great Lakes Theater produced my first outreach tour "On the Dark Side of Twilight."

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

That was crazy.

I think we may have set an attendance record for the outreach tour at Olde Towne Hall tonight. Over 70 people turned out! And what an incredible mix, kids and teens and adults young and old, it was incredible. And they were excited for an evening of vampire fun, let me tell you.

I don't know who started it, them or us, but there was a silly energy in the air. When I start "hypnotizing" Maria in the second arc, Emily got all sleepy and bedroom-eyed and I almost lost it.

During the Nosferatu segment, I actually drooled blood down my chin.

And Dusten was on freaky-fire, his timing was great all night but by the final scene, he was just milking it, and I mean that in the best way possible. He's never had so much sex in his voice when he's telling Lucy how much he wants to cut her and drink her blood. He's also never sounded so stupid in the final scene.

I don't know if we are giddy with all the touring or if we are finally relaxing into our performances. I think each of us are trying to get everything we can out of this show before it closes on Thursday.

Dynamite crowd, great discussion afterward. We ask (sometimes) why the vampire remains a compelling figure, and several times, including tonight, the "bad boy" thing comes up. But there was also some discussion after we all broke for punch and cookies about theology.

Someone at LAK had asked why there was so much talk about God in the third arc.  And then, of course, Michael was asking about comparisons to the Eucharist on Sunday (thanks for that, Michael.)

Today I had a nice talk with a man following the show who wanted to know if I were a person of faith; if I were Christian, to be specific. What happened on stage tonight made him feel as though I were. The way issues of faith were handled, he assumed I was. This comes to me as a relief, because though this is a satire, I am not really comfortable with denigrating or demeaning anyone's faith. Anyone's.

It's almost embarrassing the amount of help we have received lately, loading out the set. But I am grateful for it. We had GLTF company members, and students from Elyria Catholic who returned to see the show again, helping us lug everything down the big staircase. I am too wrung out and sore to say no.

Wow. This tour has been so much fun, I can't tell you. Did I mention we were performing on the set of Oklahoma?

On the Dark Side of Twilight: Lakewood Public Library

Ten years ago, Great Lakes Theater produced my first outreach tour "On the Dark Side of Twilight."

Monday, March 8, 2010

Three more performances? Really, that's it?

Very nice night night, full house at the Lakewood Public Library, and lots of new and old friends, familiar faces and downright strangers on hand. Several actor-teachers, from today and years past, GLTF company members, Playhouse Square representatives, roommates, teachers from some of the high schools we work with, bringing their students. It was a lovely turnout.

This evening has been filling me with anxiety since I saw how the set worked, and how deep it needed to be. Thank you, Daniel, for ordering that extra pole for the drapes, it has come in very handy. I do not know how we could have managed this without it.

Using the drapes as masking - and angling them downstage - we had much more room to the sides and did not have any of our "business" showing when the doors were open.

I borrowed several key lines in the play from last fall's residency program rehearsal process, and as this was the night half of them were able to make the performance, these "private jokes" got some serious play, most notably, "Girl's gotta eat."

I pressed several of our comrades into service to get everyone out by 9 o'clock, and dang if that wasn't the fastest load-out we've ever had. You people are pros and have my endless gratitude. Thanks to Lakewood Public Library, they always do an amazing job of promoting the outreach tour, and I think we finally have the knack for handling their space.

On the Dark Side of Twilight: Cleveland Heights-University Heights Main Public Library

Ten years ago, Great Lakes Theater produced my first outreach tour "On the Dark Side of Twilight."

Sunday, March 7, 2010

This charming assemblage of young people from Twinsburg (left) made the trip to the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Main Public Library to see our little show! Seems they recently had their own production of an adaptation of John Polidori's The Vampyre in their black box performance space, and just had to check this show out.

AND they stayed afterwards to help us pack up and load out in record time! It was an incredible afternoon, the first truly beautiful, sunshiny day in ages, and yet around a hundred people turned out to check out the tour in my hometown.

Lots of friends (large and small) in attendance, and GLTF company and staff members! I saw you, Heather, Chris, Terry and Todd! Also board members, GLTF subscribers, and just a whole roomful of familiar, warm faces. And Kelly's over-sized laugh.

And somehow, after the show began, I lost a finger. Really, there were ten fingertips on the prop table when we started, and when I needed them, I was missing one. One of the kids said they noticed. Damn! Not sure what to do about that, I may need to contact some novelty stores tomorrow morning.

On the Dark Side of Twilight: Akron Public Library - Nordonia Hills Branch

Ten years ago, Great Lakes Theater produced my first outreach tour "On the Dark Side of Twilight."

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Dusten broke the decanter.

The Akron Public Library in Nordonia has been a stop for the GLTF Outreach Tour in long-standing. Always a great, supportive turnout; a small space, but they always serve coffee, lemonade and cookies.

We had a pretty full room. Charlie came to see us! So did Tamara, and she brought her daughter and her friends. A great mix from young to old in the house this evening.

Have I mentioned yet how much I enjoy working with Emily and Dusten? I am grateful for all of the humor and high spirits, it makes schlepping big heavy set pieces much more enjoyable.

Oh, and we got a new table, to replace the one Dusten broke.

On the Dark Side of Twilight: Elyria Catholic High School

Ten years ago, Great Lakes Theater produced my first outreach tour "On the Dark Side of Twilight."

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

The high school performances have truly rocked this year! We visited Elyria Catholic High School today, and a higher number than usual were in attendance in the gymnasitorium. The floor was filled and there were a lot of students in the bleachers.

Some guys believed this play was only about Twilight and were not necessarily looking forward to it. We do not give high school students programs before the show, out of concern that they may read them during the performances, or leave them lying around if they don't really want them.

Most students are compelled to attend assemblies, don't you know, and may not even like plays. But the program does explain what the show is, which is helpful if you are seeing it for the first time. So whoever is moderating the show that day (today: Lisa!) has been providing a brief explanation of the concept before curtain.

And wow. The EC kids liked The Giaour! I am not suggesting previous schools didn't, but usually they have had to just kind of take it in, and don't laugh or respond vocally until The Count. But they were with us from the very beginning. It was sweet.

Then, of course ... there's Dusten's "Lower Power." Andrew had directed that delivery to be ... potentially ... I mean, let's just say ... there was the potential for a double-meaning. Today was the first time I think anyone got that. Unfortunately, the very next line is:

LUCY: You sound like my dad.

Okay. That was wrong.

On the Dark Side of Twilight: Kendal at Oberlin

Ten years ago, Great Lakes Theater produced my first outreach tour "On the Dark Side of Twilight."

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Man. That was the longest load out we've done. The three of us have gotten load-out to a science, and with assistance we can get it done in about an hour. Tonight I think we clocked in a 1:45. Just taking it easy. Because honestly, and just between the two of us, we're a little tired.

Tonight we were hosted by Kendal at Oberlin, and thank you, Kendal! We had a sizable crowd, apparently there are those of a certain age who have been turned off by the promotional materials, not just here but at other retirement communities. This is a good thing, I think, because I'd rather people knew what they were in for.

However, there were a larger than normal number of people who came from the surrounding community to attend the show. You know who I mean. TEENAGERS!!!

Or maybe college students. Fans of Twilight. There was one guy there who raised his hand admitting he'd read the book. I was proud of him.

And the table lives! Life is good. We even got dinner, ordered from a menu! Thanks again, Kendal.

Tomorrow: A high school!

On the Dark Side of Twilight: Fairview Park Public Library

Ten years ago, Great Lakes Theater produced my first outreach tour "On the Dark Side of Twilight."

Vampire book display!

Monday, March 1, 2010

"This is a very old table."

That is what I said before launching into the second arc. After being attacked, Young Porlock hit the table, as usual, and the same leg that busted yesterday collapsed. The books and everything hit the floor. Lord Darvell did not even deign to look at the destruction. Hang Poor Porlock, bleeding on the divan, he had crushed our beloved table, and there was nothing to be done.

The Narrator brought out the sound case, and put the table onto that. It was too important to simply haul off-stage. There was too much at stake.

Get it? Get it?

The major piece of the table I restored yesterday is still stuck firm, but that leg ... I have reattached it with wood glue and the clamp (which had been relocated for the larger damage and then set aside) and it may see another performance.

The crowd at Fairview was very nice, though strangely low on Twilight fans. I mean, I was really surprised. But the folks there have always been very supportive and the turnout was high.

Margaret led her first post-show discussion tonight, and it was really great. It went into some new places, especially into the sanguine. It is so weird that Bella (in the novel Twilight) describes Edward's breath as smelling sweet. He eats blood, that is his diet. It doesn't matter that it is animal blood. Have you ever been hit in the face? Had dental surgery? Have you ever had am amount of blood sit in your mouth? You know how it tastes? How it smells? Now imagine that is what you eat. Stoker nailed it with his description of Dracula's personal hygiene. Sweet his breath was not.

A woman came up after and asked me about Kent State. She wasn't critical, she just wanted to know why The Interview has references to historical events in the way the other three do not. None of these events are mentioned by name, not specifically. But if it weren't obvious, she was struck by the reference to "13 Seconds." I did not know that was a book, I just knew it was a fact.

Setting up and striking, Emily treated us to the weirdest mix CD I have ever heard. She's big into Wicked, apparently. And Newsies.

An observation: How much did Margaret Hamilton owe her performance as the Wicked Witch to Max Shreck? Hamilton is diminutive, to be sure, I am not sure she was even taller than Judy Garland. And while everything around her is brightly colored (including her own green face) she is dressed all in black, a black which light seems to fall into. So she creates these silhouettes with her joints; her elbows, her shoulders, making shadows against the background, with those long fingers, jutting UP into Dorothy's face.

Well. It's obvious, isn't it?

UPDATE: Margaret Hamilton, at 5' even, was in fact taller than the 4'11" Judy Garland.

On the Dark Side of Twilight: Akron Main Public Library

Ten years ago, Great Lakes Theater produced my first outreach tour "On the Dark Side of Twilight."

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Fantastic afternoon in Akron, yo. Marked improvement over when we drew 6 people for the 2008 tour. Okay eight - but two walked out. A great crowd; girls from Elms who dragged their parents in to check us out, students from Tallmadge High who have created their own adaptation of Dracula for the stage (Vlad Dracul) and even an author who has written bout John Polidori!

We were welcomed with open arms and a really big, red dolly to move things into the awesomely awesome hall at Akron Main Public Library, only this guy put our already seriously abused but otherwise charming little table onto the dolly, just letting it wobble there until we hit a ramp and it went crashing into a rail. Snapped a leg right off and damaged the drawer.

It's an important table. We keep props in it that are used throughout the show, and I have to put Dusten's face into it. The library staff worked feverishly with wood glue and a great clamp -- it's great because it looks old and you can barely see it. We will get that back to you, promise!

The post-show discussion was super (thanks in large part to our author) going over aspects of the show which haven't been brought up much since we began. Never yet, for example, has the term "Terrorist Chic" entered the conversation. And this was the first time someone asked if I had a rationale for why Porlock ages.

The Witches: First Reading

Upstairs at Parnell's

What’s next? As I described previously in my post on procrastination, I have been managing my deadlines not by thinking of them all at once, but only by what is next. I would not recommend this as a way to live your life in general, but I found it was the only way I could manage for the present. Only what is right in front of me. I have the skill to manage. And the meds.

And so it was, I completed the first draft of The Witches. Which is to say, I reached the end. The play is not complete, but then why should it be? The Test Flight series “offers artists the opportunity to self-produce works-in-progress.” (CPT website.) It will remain in progress until these performances close on April 11, and beyond.

Director Chennelle, most of the acting company and a few friends met at Parnell’s last week to hear it all out loud, from beginning to end. It read at an hour ten, there’s bits still missing, I will have a longer draft available when rehearsals begin next week.

So, the witches. This is a kitchen sink play, sister to The Vampyres (no, that wasn’t intentional) in that I saw a scene, I felt a mood, and I thought I had something to say. But I didn’t know what was going to happen. Unlike, for example, The Bully of Baker Street, where I had a clear agenda, and plotted a mystery with a beginning middle and end before I started to write, here I had a place, I had characters, and they told me where to go.

And yet, there’s an awful lot going on here, as the readers and listeners made evident. Because it’s not just about witches, it’s about ghosts. It’s not just about women, it’s about generations of women.

Women who should respect each other, but don’t. Those who believe "the young and brash are destroying the work." (Craig's words.) Those who see themselves as functionaries in the grand schemes of their elders. And those who keep their heads down and just keep working.

Then there’s New England, and Salem, and the old beliefs. Chennelle observed something I have always noticed about places like Salem, or New Orleans. They are like Europe, in that they are loud. Heather called it an energy. They have a loud energy. Perhaps that is only to the descendants of those who came or were brought across the ocean to be here. The weight, the loud energy of our history, which is not evident in the newer buildings and pavement of a Cleveland, but in the wood, the soil, the trees of the colonial, coastal towns and cities.

Our company wants rules. What calls the spirits, what makes them go away? Old Hamlet wandered the ramparts seeking attention, but he was also easily insulted. On the Dark Side of Twilight was all about how the rules for vampires have shifted over time. We also need to understand what those are.

Finally, the characters themselves. The four from 2020, the four (five, actually) from 1692. They each have their own history, biographies which I have created but not yet shared. Because I want to know it makes sense before I tell them why I think it makes sense. We will work together to create a common understanding of their past.

There's more, a lot more. And it's a comedy, that's also important. I want it to be stirring and chilling and funny. During our discussion someone mentioned a line from Poltergeist and I thought, well, I know exactly where that goes.

Right now I am feeling excited and grateful, grateful to work day after day with so many talented, loving people. A long, long time ago, when we were youngish, I was sitting with a playwright friend in the Arabica on Coventry, musing pretentiously about the Algonquin Round Table, and how I wished that one day we would be famous and spend our days just writing and our nights sitting around a pub or restaurant getting tight and tossing off bon mots, night after night after night.

Yes, well. I'm not famous and I neither write for a living nor do I spend every evening drinking and posing about. But there are these moments, and there quite a few of them, when we share in semi-public spaces, chatting and drinking, and reading and doing the work, and I think I got what I always wanted after all.

Parnell's Irish Pub Playhouse Square is located at 1415 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland.

On the Dark Side of Twilight: Cleveland Sight Center

Ten years ago, Great Lakes Theater produced my first outreach tour "On the Dark Side of Twilight."

Friday, February 26, 2010

Our performance today at the Cleveland Sight Center has been cancelled. This is very disappointing, I love that venue. But the snow just keeps coming down, if we went ahead with the performance I would be concerned there would be no audience.

On the Dark Side of Twilight: Evaluations

Ten years ago, Great Lakes Theater produced my first outreach tour "On the Dark Side of Twilight."

Wednesday, 24, 2010

Following every performance we have a brief discussion between the audience and the company - and we ask that people fill out a survey included in the program. The comments so far have been very positive, I wanted to share a few of them:

"This was great. My granddaughter had a blast and thank your cast for staying and talking to them after the show."

"I have attended many GLTF productions before, but not the outreach. It was great. I'm sure the area students would love it."

"The one costume needs to be fixed for the young man."

"We really do need more arts and culture in our community, thank you so much!"

"It was wonderfully awesome."

And this answer to the question, what was least effective about the production:

"It could have been longer."

By the way, here is an interesting fact: We do not use smoke in our production. It is water-based fog. Your coughing is psychosomatic.

On the Dark Side of Twilight: Workshop Players

Ten years ago, Great Lakes Theater produced my first outreach tour "On the Dark Side of Twilight."

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Mistakes were made.

May I begin by saying our hosts at Workshop Players were stunning fabulous, resourceful, helpful and, might I add, cheery? This was a first-time venue, the GLTF outreach tour had never stopped here before. An old, small schoolhouse, converted into a state-of-the-art community theater-in-the-round in Amherst, with a staff on hand to help us load in, set up and load out, and they made us delicious, hot soup!

Honestly, this one hundred seat theater has the cleanest, best appointed green room I have ever seen. And because it's downstairs, they have these cameras to keep an eye on the stage. For our purposes, tonight, however, we lost a bank of seats to make room for our set. Even so, there was not much room, and setting up and performing was a bit of scramble.

We also had a deeper, narrower stage with people on three sides, which made blocking a challenge. Some of the words coming out of our mouths were a challenge, too. I do not know what shook me at the outset but I kept bobbling words in a manner I was not used to. But the response from the full house of ninety (yes! another full house!) made it emotionally possible for me to shamelessly chew the scenery during The Interview.

A prop was misplaced ... something was said twice ... but we didn't break any furniture (that happened yesterday) and really, considering the sheer weight of costumes, props, sound cues, blood and fog, I think we are managing things pretty well. It helps when we get soup.

Emily pointed out to me that almost the entire back row was filled with teenage girls, with long, straight, black hair. Sad girl win!

On the Dark Side of Twilight: Our Lady of the Elms

Ten years ago, Great Lakes Theater produced my first outreach tour "On the Dark Side of Twilight."

Monday, February 22, 2010

This tour is really wearing me out. We have performed seven performances in seven days and I have not been engaging in any other extra-social business. I try to get to sleep at a reasonable hour. But waking up I feel like I have been hit by a bus.

Driving home from Akron today was a real grind, I kept nodding off at stoplights. Okay, not really. I don't want to worry anyone. So really, I didn't. Not more than once.

Now, is it the load-in, load-out thing, the lifting of heavy objects? Or is it the show itself? No idea. The heavy lifting thing isn't really a big deal, the set for Seeing Red two years ago was much more strenuous, much heavier, much more awkward.

But we need to set up and tear down:

• A curtain
• The set facade
• Racks for 18 costumes
• A tub loaded with props
• Fog machine
• Plenty of odd make-up extras and wigs
• The sound system

And then there's the show itself. Not much time to stop and breathe.

We have been blessed to have assistance at many locations. Clague ended with a lot of good friends helping us tear down. And today the students of Our Lady of the Elms were extremely helpful in helping us pack it all together and load it out.

And today's performance? Man. I love that venue. These girls really surprised me last year, which was our first visit to the school. We were performing Two By Chekhov, a set of the Russian playwright's hilarious one-acts. How well they would go over for a modern high school audience was a mystery.

Well. The girls were prepared. They had actually read the Chekhov plays prior to our arrival. They knew what to look for in the performances, and I swear they laughed at absolutely everything.

This year, however ... a vampire play? It actually made me nervous, some of the questionable discussions about faith and God, there are some charged phrases in the production, which have really popped with the high school audiences.

As Elaine mentioned yesterday, the satire settles down a bit in the third arc, and what is at stake becomes quite serious. I think this is good, there's actually something to be afraid of, eternal damnation perhaps, that people take seriously in a way they may not all the vampire stuff.

But oh, that final arc. I was concerned the teenage audiences wouldn't like it, that it might feel condescending. I tried very hard for the conversation to be realistic, only Emily and Dusten take it to such a level it is impossible not to laugh. And it did really seem like the girls today were laughing at every single word the actors said.

That was a good day. Well worth all the effort.

On the Dark Side of Twilight: Clague Playhouse

Ten years ago, Great Lakes Theater produced my first outreach tour "On the Dark Side of Twilight."

Sunday, February 21, 2010

The Good News: We had a full house at Clague! A long-time venue for the GLTF outreach tour, and always very supportive, they were forced to turn away a large number of people. This was no doubt due to the fact that 1) they always have a great showing for our tour 2) a positive write-up the the PD and 3) it's got vampires in it.

The Bad News: We were forced to turn away a large number of people! I hope folks who were not able to get a seat show up at one of our future venues.

Today's audience was outstanding. They got everything. I just love the reaction during the Nosferatu sequence. During the discussion Elaine made note of arc three, when the satire abruptly stops, and things get kind of serious for a little bit. I am glad she saw that.

Everyone at Clague was super, it's always a challenge figuring out how to get our set to work there. It is an intimate space and we always arrive during a run or just before one and often there is a realistic set on the stage we need to work around.

Not only were we (with the help of the always fabulous Ron Newell) able to get the set up, and the sides well-masked, but the weird configuration backstage kept the three of us in the cast on our toes. I think that, and the full house, really pumped up our performance.

On the Dark Side of Twilight: Jennings Center for Older Adults

Ten years ago, Great Lakes Theater produced my first outreach tour "On the Dark Side of Twilight."

Saturday, February 20, 2010

I wasn't sure about turn-out for an early afternoon performance at the Jennings Center. Who goes to a 1:30 show on a Saturday? But we had a really great mix of residents and visitors, not only children and grandchildren of folks who live there, but also some really good friends, too.

Brian, who read my roles in the first reading of the script back in November, brought his eleven year-old daughter. She loves vampires (real vampires, not ones that sparkle) and she said she enjoyed the show. Win!

Got a new fog machine, but this one makes a terrible sputtering noise when it is doing it's work. Sometimes that doesn't matter but it is an unhelpful distraction. Our company of three has been working together very well unloading and loading the set, it's really getting down to a science. Instead of showing up two hours early, we may soon only need a ninety minute appearance before shows.

On the Dark Side of Twilight: East Park Retirement Community

Ten years ago, Great Lakes Theater produced my first outreach tour "On the Dark Side of Twilight."

Friday, February 19, 2010

Successful evening at East Park Retirement Community Center. But first:

HYSTERICAL CAMPY FUN! 
- Tony Brown, The Plain Dealer

Also, I am "beady-eyed" and at my "perverse best." Thank you. Tonight some of the ladies remarked at what startling and creepy eyes I have.

And what a night! The folks at East Park were really up for a vampire show this evening. Just before the show started, one of the audience members got up on the stage and lay down on the chaise lounge, inviting women to come up and suck his blood.

Blew a fuse on the fog machine right before the show ended, so we lost the Edwyn Collins tune, which was a bummer, but at least that was all they missed.

Lisa ran her first talkback for this production this evening. Point: When asked, teenagers admit they want to live forever, even or especially if it means being a vampire. Senior citizens to do not want immortality under any circumstances. Discuss.

Source: "Vampire play 'On the Dark Side of Twilight,' performed by Great Lakes Theater Festival, is campy fun" by Tony Brown, The Plain Dealer, 1/19/2010

On the Dark Side of Twilight: Admiral King High School

Ten years ago, Great Lakes Theater produced my first outreach tour "On the Dark Side of Twilight."

Thursday, February 18, 2010

The tour came to Lorain Admiral King High School today. Loading in we had the assistance of maybe a dozen volunteers who were pressed into service to help us move large bits of the set and help us get everything up and ready. The three of us have yet to put the whole thing together or tear it down by ourselves.

This was our first high school audience. True, there were students at LCCC last night, but it was a mix of old and young. We had a larger than usual Admiral King audience today, it was reported that there were some 8th graders with us. LAK doesn't send the entire student body to witness the outreach tour, but I am always mystified as to exactly which students have the privilege of attending the performance and why.

As for the performance itself, it went over very well. I believe this will be a trend, the high school students will watch patiently through the first two arcs and then bust out in surprise at the final two. Daniel warned me about the arcane nature of Arc One: The Giaour, and how it might go right over the heads of the high school audiences.

It doesn't go over their heads exactly, but I am worried they think the entire show is going to sound like that and check out. He prepped them during the pre-show speech to let them know what the play was about, and how it eventually reaches more contemporary material.

Something else ... teenagers can read something dirty into almost anything. And today was the first time an audience really got creeped out by the old, bald Count coming onto the Maria in arc two.

It is going to be very, very hard to get out of these high school shows within 90 minutes of the end of the talkback. So many kids want to talk to us, to sign autographs, to talk about the play!

And the girls keep hitting on Dusten. Pity poor Dusten.