Dracula the Musical

Dracula the Musical now has the music available on CD.

Strawdog Theatre's RED NOSES is a freaking great time!

I had the pleasure this past Sunday night to attend a performance of Strawdog Theatre's RED NOSES. Now, I know that honestly, self preservation dictates that I use this valuable blog space to plug for our production, Scott T. Barsotti's THE REVENANTS, currently running at 935 W. Sheridan. But, really, I need to take a moment here...

First of all, we here at WildClaw love Strawdog. We really do. We probably would not have made it this far without their generosity and support. Seeing as Aly Greaves is both, we are almost family. In-laws I guess. And, secondly, they are currently our neighbors, what with being at 3829 N. Broadway, a mere shamble away, easy access even for a zombie...

Thirdly, however...this show, RED NOSES, rocks. And I do not use that term lightly. Now, of course, a show dealing with death, plague, pestilence, and man's quest for and denial of humanity, perhaps it appeals to me right now, but, regardless...

The two hours and fifteen minutes I spent in the Strawdog Theatre space watching RED NOSES were the most enjoyable two hours and fifteen minutes I have spent in a theatre in years. It was the most fun I have had seeing a play about death and disease, ever. Ever.

There are too many highlights for my aged and drug addled zombie brain to list, but I will attempt a meager smattering. First and foremost, WildClaw's very own Aly Greaves' costumes are perfect. From the casual dress, through the cardinal and the pope right to Master Pestilence...they are perfect. Carmine "Duffy's Big Break" Grisolia, Shannon Hoag, John Moran, and Rob "Butterpants" McLean ought to start a band. I would definitely make a point of seeing that gig. Stephen Taylor, Anderson "Little Body" Lawfer, Eric "They are going to roast me on the 15th" Roach, and Kyle Hamman are hilarious, and Sarah Goeden is heartbreaking. I haven't even mentioned the malformed twins, the self-abuse, the infectious plague, the ravens, and...did I see zombies? Oh, and I cannot leave out the anchor of the show, John "F@#%stick" Ferrick.

I do not get super enthusiastic about shows that often. This one however, is a must see.

I have a great idea. Buy tickets to see THE REVENANTS Sunday matinee, and tickets to RED NOSES Sunday evening performance. In between go across the street and have some food and a margarita at El Mariachi. That might just be the perfect day of theatre, ever, in the history of the world. Just make sure to bring quarters for the meters.

The Revenants Poster

We now have a graphic for our upcoming zombie play, The Revenants, by Scott T. Barsotti. The show opens April 20th, 2009 at the Angel Island Theater in Chicago. This intimate, dare I say, claustrophobic production will be directed by WildClaw company member, Anne Adams.


Poster by Charlie Athanas

It Has Begun - Arkham Awaits

Big begins building

Today we erected the set for H. P. Lovecraft's The Dreams in the Witch House at the Athenaeum Theater. Tech week has officially started. Platforms have been hoisted, screws tightened, paint flung. We open next Sunday, November 16th and run through December 21st.

Get your tickets now for WildClaw's most ambitious show. Centerstage has already called it a Must-See Show and Fangoria is telling you to obey that impulse and see it.

Here's what they said about WildClaw's The Great God Pan earlier this year:

"If this is the WildClaw standard for horror, we’ll gladly be horrified again"
-TimeOut Chicago

"Fantastically executed"
-Killer_works.com

"It delivers the guts and gore you crave and you may actually get blood splattered on you"
-The Chicagoist

"Spooky fun in the vein of the classic Hammer Films thrillers of the 1950s and '60s"
-Chicago Reader

You probably heard that Deathscribe was a blast. So what are you waiting for? Arkham awaits.

Omnicircus Performance

In 1982, when I first arrived in Chicago, I answered a flyer in the Gingerman bar for a film looking for a synthesizer player. At the time I was sleeping on the floor of the Leo Lerner Theater box office, very broke, and often drunk. How could I say no? This was how I met the amazing Frank Garvey and his eternal film project - Omnicircus. In 1988, it turned into a live performance project. Think Survival Research Lab meets pre-war Munich and the birth of cabaret.

If you are in San Francisco, I urge you to check this event out. It is bound to entertain, mesmerize, and probably frighten and disturb you in ways you hadn't thought possible in our jaded universe today.



OmniCircus presents another fabulous EVENT-

A surreal anthem to the urban night
THOUSAND FACES BALL
DARK INDUSTRIAL CABARET!

Join Frank Garvey plus the MOTH NOR RUST Band for
2 BIG Saturday SHOWS!

November 1st & 8th @ 8pm

at OmniCircus

OPENING ACT: CUBAN CIGAR CRISIS

THOUSAND FACES BALL is a multimedia performance with
robots, music, projections, dance, performance and video...
Come experience our newest experimental surreal melo-drama
with the new OmniCircus band - MOTH NOR RUST

Featuring Underground Chanteuse and SUPERSTAR OmniDiva of
the Hell-blasted Streets -
JOAN LOON

The FIERY FURY of SPOKEN PREACHMENTS and Imprecations -
Reverand COSMO

The Honorable and Most Beneficial -
Colonel GEOFFREY POND
Of the Commandos of the LAST DAYS;

SARGENT-at-ARMS of the CHURCH of the 7th BARDO -
ARCHDUDE GARVEY

The Birdman of ABRACADABRA -
Dave GURSOM

The LADIES Auxiliary of the
JUNIOR DRAGONS of MYSTERY

And the Highly Sexually Sought-after CAN'T AFFORDIAN of the ACCORDIAN -
SPACE KAT THOMAS

As well as genius Multi-instrumentalist and Insta-mentalist -
COLFAX (aka Daniel BERKMAN)

and LINDEN the Lord of LOW-DOWN

And the Guru of Unholy Groundlings, the Terror and FIRST RESPONSE
PUNISHER of all Evolutionary LOTTERY LOSERS such as SMALL MAMMALS,
BIRDS, MICE and FLEAS...
SIR MONKEY!

PARTY AFTER THE SHOWS!!

$10 suggested donation
http://www.omnicircus.com
Please call 415-701-0686 for more information.

The OmniCircus is located at 550 Natoma Street,
between Mission and Howard and 6th and 7th Streets,
in San Francisco's South of Market (SoMa) district.
The door is on Russ Street.

WildClaw Season Two Teasers

See the entry below for ticket info for both of these shows.

Aly brings you a little old school Horror Fun!

I am doing the costumes for Collaboraction's Sketchbook '08, a short-play festival opening May 15th at the Steppenwolf Garage and running to June 16th. Here is a fun production still from a video shoot we did on wednesday night for the play Count Orlok's Castle in which two horror movie genres collide with interesting results. These are two characters from a black and white "Nosferatu" style film. I did the costumes and the makeup. Enjoy a little old school horror fun and come out to see the show!

Thank You

Well, we have torn down the sets, cried in our beers and mopped up the blood. The Great God Pan has closed and we would like to thank everyone who came to see the play. The audiences were great!

Stay tuned, because we are in our secret lair now brewing up something horrific. Keep coming to BLOOD RADIO for more cool interviews, horror podcasts and news about WildClaw's future events.

And a huge thank you to everyone who worked on The Great God Pan! We had a tremendous cast and crew all around. Our behind the scenes support was amazing from folks like the Four Moon Tavern, Strawdog Theatre, Clive Barker, The Friends of Machen Society, L.A. Banks and many, many more from the worlds of theater and horror. Let's do it again.

Four Pan Performances Left

Four. Count 'em. Four.

See The Great God Pan this week before you become one of those folks who asks us if we videotaped it for everyone who missed it.

We didn't.

Eight Chances Left

There are eight performances left of the critically acclaimed production, The Great God Pan! Get your tickets!! Say the word "BLOOD" at the Athenaeum Theater box office and get a fabulous discount on your ticket.



"If this is the WildClaw standard for horror, we'll gladly be horrified again."
- TimeOut Chicago

"fantastically executed"
- Killer_works.com

"spooky fun in the vein of the classic Hammer Films thrillers of the 1950s and '60s"
- Chicago Reader

"It delivers the guts and gore you crave and you may actually get blood spattered on you."
- The Chicagoist

Slice of SciFi Podcast #152

Over at Slice of SciFi their latest podcast (#152) features a piece on WildClaw Theatre and The Great God Pan.

The WildClaw Clive Barker Interview

Our exclusive interview with Clive Barker where we talk to him about working with Charley Sherman (adaptor/director of The Great God Pan) on the stage adaptation of Barker's In The Flesh, the influence and importance of Arthur Machen, and what Clive's currently working on.

Windy City Times Review of The Great God Pan

Mary Shen Barnidge reviews The Great God Pan for the Windy City Times. Here's an excerpt:

"Playwright Charley Sherman is still remembered in Chicago for his award-winning page-to-stage adaptations of contemporary creep-lit authors, and his rendition of this period thriller is laudable for its roster of elements associated with the genre: esoteric cult-worship, gloomy abandoned houses, gruesome unnatural deaths, masquerade balls attended by licentious guests, strolls through the fleshpots of fin-de-siècle London, innocent virgins strapped to surgical tables, callow youths driven to ruin by femmes extremely-fatales ( reflecting the gilded age's fear and fascination with the notion of uninhibited sexuality—especially in women ) and, of course, gallons of lovingly-replicated gore.

Assisted by Elise Kauzlaric's superlative dialect instruction, Tom Hickey makes a suitably buttoned-up skeptic to Lily Mojekwu's sensual mystic. Steve Herson projects conviction in the role of the technologist unable to cope with moral ambiguity, as does J. David Moeller's elderly witness whose testimony frames our story, along with an ensemble of actors and designers—in particular, Adam Kozlowski's sound, Allison Greaves' costumes and Ryan Oliver's “biological effects.” Together, they transform what could have been merely a quaint study of prudish Victorian intolerance into a timely lesson for audiences today."

Here's the full review.

Coming Soon - The WildClaw Clive Barker Interview

Clive Barker was gracious enough today to talk to WildClaw about working with Charley Sherman on his stage adaptation of Barker's In The Flesh, the influence and importance of Arthur Machen, and what new projects he is working on.

We will have both a text transcription and a podcast version of this interview up on BLOOD RADIO and the WildClaw Theatre website soon. Stay tuned!

"Fantastically Executed"

Killer-works.com is the latest to review The Great God Pan. We love it when the horror fans like the show!

"Fantastically executed... It would be impossible to tell the story literally from Machen's text, but Charley Sherman (adaptor/director) does an excellent job of creating a narrative flow that makes sense. Lighting and sound skillfully move you around the stage, help set the tone and punctuate the moments of tension. The acting is also of high caliber and the female leads Lily Mojekwu (as the many faces of evil) and Michaela Petro (as Mary) are particularly captivating."
-Jude Mire, Killer-works.com (for the full review go to the March 3 page of Killer-works)

Carter's Way

After you see The Great God Pan, check WildClaw company member, Anne Adams' new show at Steppenwolf Theatre, Carter's Way.


Anne Adams and James Vincent Meredith

Fatboy

Our friends over at Red Orchid Theatre are putting on quite the skit called FATBOY. It stars our pals, Steve Pickering and Jennifer Engstrom and exudes a calm serene vibe that recalls "Somewhere in Time" with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. WAIT A MINUTE - f*#% that! This over the top explosion of theater will knock your teeth out. Check out these reviews if you don't believe me:

Ur Chicago

Performink Review Roundup

But see The Great God Pan first, damn it.