Carte Blanche Studios Presents The Masque of the Red Death

A Gothic melodrama adapted from the short story by Edgar Allan Poe

by Bill Jackson

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH Runs September 28, 29 and October 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 19, 20, 21, 26, 27. All shows are at 8PM, except Sundays are 2PM matinees. The performances will be held at Carte Blanche Studios, 1024 S 5^th St. in Milwaukee. To reserve tickets go to www.carteblanchestudios.com or call (414) 688-7313.

 

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH is a well-known horror story of a plague that scourges the dominion of a cruel prince whose selfishness and neglect cause the ironic and horrific ruin of his throne, his court, and himself in the classic tradition of the stories of America’s most revered writer of horror, Edgar Allan Poe. In this adaptation, the youthful, brilliant Prince Prospero (James Dragolovich), abandoned in childhood by the death in childbirth of his mother and the grief of his father, turns his fury against the land of Hubrik, his own dominion. Despite appeals by his subjects, represented by the esteemed Dr. Kilgore (David Kaye) and his beautiful daughter, Sangrid (Emily Craig), he leaves his people to die as he seals himself and his glittering friends in his castle. Before doing so, he abducts the doctor’s daughter who is tragically defended by Ruddy (Jerome Maywald), a former teacher now drunken in grief, at the cost of his life. The Red Death itself possesses and animates the corpse of the old teacher and enters Castle Hubrik to visit retribution on the prince and his court who, in a remarkable display of fatal folly, believed themselves to be free of contagion and death.

CARTE BLANCHE STUDIOS presents the professional debut of this original play by Milwaukee actor and educator, Bill Jackson in his first venture as a playwright.

The play is lavish in language and emotion in the style of classic melodrama. This is especially so in the final scene in which the court pays for their cruelty in a ballet of horror and death in the grip of a supernaturally accelerated contagion. The production in the company’s own intimate space in Walker’s Point is performed by a cast of Milwaukee’s most talented young and veteran actors with beautiful music, startling costumes, dark humor, and frightening effects.

The run of the play includes two matinees and one pay-what-you-can performance as CARTE BLANCHE STUDIOS inaugurates its 2012-13 season. Audiences are cautioned that the play includes partial nudity, strong language, gunfire, and bloodshed.

Auditions for Carte Blanche’s 2112/2013 Season

Auditions for Carte Blanche Studios’ 2012/2013 season opener THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, adapted from Edgar Allan Poe’s short story by Bill Jackson, are being held Wednesday and Thursday, June 20th and 21st from 6:30pm to 10pm at Carte Blanche Studios 1024 South 5th Street in Milwaukee. The show will also be directed by Bill Jackson. Auditions are by appointment only and will be divided into 3 sessions per evening: session #1 6:30 to 7:30pm, session #2 7:30 to 9:00pm, and session #3 9:00 to 10:00pm. Please be prepared to read from sides from the script. Send an email to James Dragolovich at jimmydrag@yahoo.com to sign up. Please specify which night and session you wish to attend. If you are auditioning for a lead and would like audition sides emailed to you prior to the audition, please specify the character or characters you would like to audition for. It is optional to request the sides ahead of time. THERE ARE NO NON-SPEAKING ROLES IN THIS SHOW and most supporting roles will be double or triple cast, so there will be plenty of stage time for everyone involved. Please feel free to invite people you know who may want to audition to this event. Callbacks will be held on Monday, June 25 from 6:30 to 9:30pm. Below is the character breakdown:

LEAD ROLES

FOOL … the storyteller who plays various roles and
only speaks in prose and verse by Poe
This character is the voice of horror in the play. The character must interpret Poe’s writing with grace and beauty as well as an underscore of evil intent.

PROSPERO II … 19, Prince of the Realm
An arrogant and violent monarch who is also an abandoned and unloved boy. He must be witty and briliant while showing that his major motivation is injury due to the neglect of his father.

DR.ALAN KILGORE … 49, former royal court physician and PROSPERO’S godfather
A gifted physician and the voice of reason in the play. He is devoted to his daughter and to the salvation of the realm from the plague. He is also the prince’s godfather.

SANGRID KILGORE … 17, KILGORE’S daughter and the last surviving member of his family
The only survivor of the Rave and the Red Death, she is innocent and kind, but she possesses a spine. She adored her father.

MILO RUDGE or RUDDY … 50’s, the old rummy who used to be a teacher
A former teacher, now a drunk to escape the pain of loss of his students. He befriends SANGRID.

MORTDALA … 22, PROSPERO’S Captain of the Guard and his personal bodyguard
A homicidal dominatrix who is the prince’s bodyguard.

SUPPORTING ROLES INCLUDE:

LALO, CAMELIA, EVA, BORIS, ADAM, LIEUTENANT/CLOWN, NORVAL, MRS. BUZZARD, THE BODY BRIGADE, KING VICTOR, QUENN ROSALYN, MAID, IMPS, RED DEATH CLOWN, PRINCE CLOWN, PEASANT CLOWN, DANCERS, ACROBATS, JUGGLERS, PUPPETEERS, FREDERICK, ANNABELLE, BILL WILSON, LENORE, TROUBADOUR, MONTRESOUR, FORTUNADO, BERENICE, EGAES, THE ARCHBISHOP, THE YOUNG PREIST, ARTISANS, SERVANTS, BUTLER, LADY MADELINE USHER, KNIGHTS, COURTIERS, POE CHARACTERS, TOWNSPEOPLE

Eloquent language and beautiful delivery is at the heart of this play. Auditions will be judged based on voice as well as interpretation. Deliver the scene; avoid “acting.”

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH will run from September 28 until October 27. Friday and Saturday evenings, with two Sunday matinees and one Thursday Pay-What-You-Can night. The first read thru will be Saturday, June 30 and rehearsals will begin shortly after. During the month of July rehearsals will be Tuesday through Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons. They will pick up in August and by September we will be doing run-throughs. Carte Blanche Studios is working on a stipend for the lead roles.

Keeping the basic plot by Edgar Allan Poe, THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH takes place in a realm ruined by The Red Death, a rapaciously contagious plague that kills through porous hemorrhage. The population of Prince Prospero’s Dominion is dying so rapidly that most are fleeing the land. The teenage monarch, orphaned and embittered by the disease, lives in a castle where he is tyrant and oblivious to the suffering of his subjects.

Former royal peer Dr. Alan Kilgore and his daughter, Sangrid, have left their own blighted estate to try to convince Prospero, the doctor’s Godson, to save his people. The Prince refuses and decrees that his castle will be sealed and he’ll let the disease have its way until it disappears. When the disease takes her father, Sangrid is alone and wandering in a dangerous world where she meets an old drunk named Ruddy who befriends her. Sangrid is abducted by the Prince’s guards and dragged back to his castle. Ruddy is murdered as he tries to protect her. Finally Ruddy, or something that looks like him, appears in the castle during the gala Steampunk rave thrown by the Prince for his courtiers and changes everything into a horrific, ironic climax.

The text incorporates many literary links to Poe from various short stories including A CASK OF AMONTILLADO, THE TELL-TALE HEART, THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, THE ASSIGNATION, and WILLIAM WILSON and poems like The City in the Sea, The Conqueror Worm, and The Haunted Palace.

Hope to see you at the audition!!!

Nightfall with Edgar Allan Poe

~The World’s Stage Theatre Company presents~

“Nightfall with Edgar Allan Poe”
by Eric Coble

Dates:
Fri. October 28th – 8:00pm
Sat. October 29th – 8:00pm
Sun. October 30th – 6:00pm

Fri. November 4th – 8:00pm
Sat. November 5th – 8:00pm

Place:
Auditorium Theatre – Marian Center for the Non-Profits
3211 S. Lake Drive
St. Francis, WI 53235

TICKETS
$12 – Students
$16 – Adults

Purchase tickets HERE: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/206271
OR
Tickets will also be available for purchase at the door before the performance for cash or check.

**Special Opening Night Offer – Friday Oct. 28th!**
$10 rush tickets available half hour before performance at the door!!! – All you have to do is sign up for our email list and if you haven’t already, “like” our page on Facebook!

NIGHTFALL WITH EDGAR ALLAN POE
By Eric Coble
Directed by Sherrick Robinson

Featuring: Ben Rogaczewski, Zach Zembrowski, Kolton Christenson, Erin Brophy, Melanie Liebetrau, Dane Bauman, Nolen Borne, Cassondra Gresl, Jesse Stenbroten

Producer/Project Coordinator: Gretchen Mahkorn
Associate Producer: Catie O’Donnell

Stage Manager: Nina Morales
Visual Designer: Shelby Kaishian

~Set in an old theatre – we invite the audience to come closer and sit with us ON the stage for this intimate tale…

Edgar Allan Poe stands alone in the flickering darkness of his mind, trying desperately to convince himself – and us – that he’s not mad. The spell he weaves brings us a highly theatrical adaption of four tales Poe himself considered his best: “The Raven,” The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Enter the world of Poe and check your heartbeat at the door.~