MONSTER

MONSTER

October 31 – November 26, 2006
  • By Neal Bell
  • From Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN
  • Directed by Randy Baker
  • THE SANCTUARY THEATRE at Casa Del Pueblo Calvary Methodist Church

Drawing parallels between our modern science and morals and those of Shelley’s characters, playwright Neal Bell has created a unique and chilling telling of this gothic classic. Take away the Hollywood lens, and the story of Victor Frankenstein and his creation becomes a lean, terrifying tale of morality and immortality.

Season 7 was sponsored in part by the Dobranski Foundation

“The entire production cackles with such moments of creativity, and Baker’s bloody fingerprints are on every scene. He keeps a laser-like focus on character-development, amazing use of space, even eerie lighting cues, all while commandeering a rollicking 90-minute show.”

DC Theatre Scene

FEATURING

Lily Balsen
Nicky Daval
Jeremy Goren
Jason Linkins
Tiernan Madorno
Paul McLane
Ryan Nealy
Robert Rector
Jon Reynolds

Designers

Set Debra Kim Sivigny
Lighting David C. Ghatan 
Costumes Erin Nugent
Sound William Burns

STAFF

Stage Manager Megan Reichelt
ASM Jillian Levine-Sisson
Assistant Director Jessie Gallogly
Fight Choreography Grady Weatherford
Asst. Lighting Design Andrew F. Griffin 

PRODUCERS

Randy Baker
Jenny McConnell Frederick

MEDIA

PRESS

“Kit Marlowe flies, with scenes intercutting each other with such facility that they conjure up images of a circus act, with high-wire acrobats… Segaller is fabulous in the title role: his Marlowe is a man who is constantly giving the whole world a sloppy wet kiss. He may affect cynicism, and he may be cruel, but Segaller’s Marlowe is at all times a huge engine of life, joy and laughter, and there is not a moment in which it seems less than authentic. Indeed, his performance makes me remember the young Tim Curry, playing Mozart in Amadeus thirty years ago. It is that good… The rest of the cast measures up to this incredible work.”
DC Theatre Scene
"Grimm is working with meaty material here, and the twisting, delving plot is one of Kit Marlowe’s greatest strengths. We’re immediately embroiled in the intrigue of Marlowe’s underground world, and the work has plenty of swashbuckling action, horrifying torture, and yes, unapologetic male nudity, to hold our attention, even when it’s running a little long. Grimm smartly sets up Marlowe to be an embodiment of many of his famous characters, from Faust to Tamburlaine, and the story has some credible surprises up its sleeve to boot."
DCist
“As the title character in David Grimm’s “Kit Marlowe,” Adam Jonas Segaller makes a most memorable entrance. Wearing not a stitch of Elizabethan garb, he swings onstage from a rope and then raucously wrestles an uptight (and fully-clothed) admirer to the ground, playfully pins him, then appears to grind a bit before reluctantly setting him loose. With a sparkle in his eye and a mischievous smile, Segaller charismatically assays the Marlowe of legend — free spirit, sexual outlaw, ambitious bounder, brilliant dramatist and spy.”
Washington Blade
“Oh, but when it is high, the pleasure level of this production is sky high and it never is less than interesting as it works its way through a modern writer’s speculations on the mysteries surrounding the short life and violent death of the man who may have passed on the concept of the history play to Shakespeare who gave us all those Henrys and Richards. Bringing the swashbuckling adventurer to lusty life is Adam Jonas Segaller, who makes his Potomac Region debut in a most memorable way, bursting on stage stark naked and dripping wet, swinging from a rope fresh from a dip in the foul, fetid Thames. ”
Potomac Stages