WildClaw Theatre delivers a bi-weekly dose of horror to your inner ear and inbox!
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Monday, December 17, 2012
Face!
Speaking of J. Anthony Kosar's faces -- here's a pretty frightening look at ordinary people's faces under kind of extraordinary circumstances.
Just because.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
J. Anthony Kosar of Face Off!
Congrats to our friend J. Anthony Kosar for getting is face on FACE OFF!!!!
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Scott T. Barsotti Writes for the Storefront Playwright Project
This month, passersby of Expo 72 (72 E. Randolph St.) will see a different kind of holiday window display... Through the Storefront Playwright Project, a creation of the League of Chicago Theatres, the public will be able to watch emerging and established Chicago playwrights at work, and read their play-in-progress as it's being written in real time. This Friday, WildClaw's literary manager and playwright Scott T. Barsotti joins in the fun, working on his adaptation of THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH, based on the story by H.P. Lovecraft, which will receive its premiere production in 2013 with WildClaw Theatre!!
Join Scott this Friday, December 7th from 2:00-6:00pm! Come by and see, stare, point, take pictures, and keep his wife company! We guarantee he'll be the only playwright writing about a cult of fish people...
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
FISH STORY WINS DEATHSCRIBE 2012!
All of us here at WildClaw wish to extend our most sincere congratulations to Joseph Zettelmaier, whose radio play FISH STORY took home the coveted Deathscribe Bloody Axe last night!
Three desperate men and a prehistoric, many legged fish with necrosis-inducing bites made for a kickass piece of radio horror. Many thanks to the director Kevin Theis, and the cast of Joe Bianco, Chris Rickett, and Dave Skvarla.
We will have photos from the evening soon, courtesy of Joe Mazza at Brave Lux, which if you haven't seen Joe's work, go check him out. If you've seen photos from our Clockwork Nightmare benefit back in September then you know how awesome he is.
Coming soon we will have podcasts of DEATHSCRIBE 2011, and we'll be working on getting last night's recordings on the blog as soon as possible.
Thank you to all of this year's directors, actors, musicians, foleyists, and artists. Thank you to our sponsors, our friends, and you, the show-going horror-loving public for sharing your evening and your enthusiasm with us!
And as always, thank you to the Deathscribes. DEATHSCRIBE could not exist without all of the delectably demented writers who bravely venture into the dark, carving out their stories in text and sound, grappling with their nightmares so that we too, can enjoy the thrill of a well told scary story. Last night, we got five of them.
Submissions for DEATHSCRIBE 2013 will open up in the spring of 2013. Be you playwright, horror writer, novelist, professional, hobbyist, student, teacher, doctor, engineer, taxidermist, nice nurse, creepy nurse, evil barber, firefighter, firestarter, or outer god. We don't care who you are or where you live. If you've got a horror radio play you've been wanting to write, get to it. What are you waiting for? 2013 may be your year, just as 2012 was the Year of the Fish.
Congrats, Joe!
Three desperate men and a prehistoric, many legged fish with necrosis-inducing bites made for a kickass piece of radio horror. Many thanks to the director Kevin Theis, and the cast of Joe Bianco, Chris Rickett, and Dave Skvarla.
We will have photos from the evening soon, courtesy of Joe Mazza at Brave Lux, which if you haven't seen Joe's work, go check him out. If you've seen photos from our Clockwork Nightmare benefit back in September then you know how awesome he is.
Coming soon we will have podcasts of DEATHSCRIBE 2011, and we'll be working on getting last night's recordings on the blog as soon as possible.Thank you to all of this year's directors, actors, musicians, foleyists, and artists. Thank you to our sponsors, our friends, and you, the show-going horror-loving public for sharing your evening and your enthusiasm with us!
And as always, thank you to the Deathscribes. DEATHSCRIBE could not exist without all of the delectably demented writers who bravely venture into the dark, carving out their stories in text and sound, grappling with their nightmares so that we too, can enjoy the thrill of a well told scary story. Last night, we got five of them.
Submissions for DEATHSCRIBE 2013 will open up in the spring of 2013. Be you playwright, horror writer, novelist, professional, hobbyist, student, teacher, doctor, engineer, taxidermist, nice nurse, creepy nurse, evil barber, firefighter, firestarter, or outer god. We don't care who you are or where you live. If you've got a horror radio play you've been wanting to write, get to it. What are you waiting for? 2013 may be your year, just as 2012 was the Year of the Fish.
Congrats, Joe!
Monday, December 3, 2012
MEET THE DEATHSCRIBE 2012 FINALISTS (part 5 of 5)
Last year, playwright Jessica Wright Buha and director Carolyn Hoerdemann teamed up to bring you Alabama Mermaid, a harrowing horror radio play with music, that combined sweet vocal melodies with the sounds of snapping arms and legs to weave a cautionary tale about menacing mermaids and snatched children in the South. This year, the winning team from DEATHSCRIBE 2011 have found each other again to tell another scary story...
Only this time, it isn't the bubbling, ringing sounds of the river bed. This year, they want you to hear THE CRY OF THE ROSE.
Murder. Battery. Torture. War. There is no shortage of horrors that human beings can enact upon each other. Perhaps the most terrifying idea in the world, something we're all acutely aware of, is that our peaceful lives can be so easily torn apart. It may be over the course of years. Or minutes. Or even mere seconds.
2011 Bloody Axe Winner Jessica Wright Buha transports you to 19th century Mexico for this lush tale of love and vengeance that is part murder ballad, part origin story.
Jessica Wright Buha’s writings have been performed by The Plagiarists (I Am Saying This Right Now) of which she is a company member, WildClaw Theatre (Alabama Mermaid, winner of Deathscribe 2011: The Fourth Annual Festival of Horror Radio Plays), the Whiskey Rebellion (Wake: A Folk Opera, Sign of Rain, Tennyson Spade), and Tooth and Nail Ensemble (Under Ground, directed by Marti Lyons). Locally, she is a solo performer (2011 Fillet of Solo Festival), a props designer (Lifeline Theatre’s Treasure Island), and a dramaturg (Lookingglass Theatre's Our Future Metropolis). She is also a founding member of the Lifeline Storytelling Project, a spoken word group performing weekly in Rogers Park. Current writing projects include The Feast of St. McGonagall, which is being performed by The Plagiarists through December 29.
Only this time, it isn't the bubbling, ringing sounds of the river bed. This year, they want you to hear THE CRY OF THE ROSE.
Murder. Battery. Torture. War. There is no shortage of horrors that human beings can enact upon each other. Perhaps the most terrifying idea in the world, something we're all acutely aware of, is that our peaceful lives can be so easily torn apart. It may be over the course of years. Or minutes. Or even mere seconds.
2011 Bloody Axe Winner Jessica Wright Buha transports you to 19th century Mexico for this lush tale of love and vengeance that is part murder ballad, part origin story.
EL GRITO DE ROSE
Written by Jessica Wright Buha
Written by Jessica Wright Buha
Directed by Carolyn Hoerdemann
Jessica Wright Buha’s writings have been performed by The Plagiarists (I Am Saying This Right Now) of which she is a company member, WildClaw Theatre (Alabama Mermaid, winner of Deathscribe 2011: The Fourth Annual Festival of Horror Radio Plays), the Whiskey Rebellion (Wake: A Folk Opera, Sign of Rain, Tennyson Spade), and Tooth and Nail Ensemble (Under Ground, directed by Marti Lyons). Locally, she is a solo performer (2011 Fillet of Solo Festival), a props designer (Lifeline Theatre’s Treasure Island), and a dramaturg (Lookingglass Theatre's Our Future Metropolis). She is also a founding member of the Lifeline Storytelling Project, a spoken word group performing weekly in Rogers Park. Current writing projects include The Feast of St. McGonagall, which is being performed by The Plagiarists through December 29.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
MEET THE DEATHSCRIBE 2012 FINALISTS (part 4 of 5)
So there you are, enjoying what appears to be a nice, normal day in the city. But...doesn't something just feel a little...off?
It's probably just the weather changing. You know how you get. But something's nagging at you. Does gravity seem stronger somehow? Is there something in the light? Everything looks familiar and yet...horribly strange.
Maybe those strangers over there know something. It's probably just the air pressure playing tricks on you. Then again, it could have something to do with those sinister fluttering sounds in your ear...or that massive, dark structure that wasn't there yesterday...
Our fourth Deathscribe of 2012 takes you to the Chicago of your fever dreams, where many things are as they were but nothing is as it should be. Three strangers in the city latch onto each other in attempt to retain their sanity, and try to make sense of this nightmare-scape the only way they know how, by COMPARING NOTES AT THE END OF THE WORLD.
Christopher M. Walsh published his first short story, an embarrassing bit of swords-&-sorcery called "Highway Robbery," in 2001. Since then he's crossed the finish line of National Novel Writing Month three times and made his debut as an adaptor with Lifeline Theatre's 2011 production of The Count of Monte Cristo. His second play, an adaptation of China Miéville's The City & The City, will open at Lifeline in February 2013. Chris's torrid relationship with horror began in 1985, when he couldn't sleep after reading "The Mangler" by Stephen King. However, while he will greedily consume the terrors of the written word, he is ashamed to admit that still can't watch scary movies without covering his eyes. Ask Mandy. She'll tell you.
It's probably just the weather changing. You know how you get. But something's nagging at you. Does gravity seem stronger somehow? Is there something in the light? Everything looks familiar and yet...horribly strange.
Maybe those strangers over there know something. It's probably just the air pressure playing tricks on you. Then again, it could have something to do with those sinister fluttering sounds in your ear...or that massive, dark structure that wasn't there yesterday...
Our fourth Deathscribe of 2012 takes you to the Chicago of your fever dreams, where many things are as they were but nothing is as it should be. Three strangers in the city latch onto each other in attempt to retain their sanity, and try to make sense of this nightmare-scape the only way they know how, by COMPARING NOTES AT THE END OF THE WORLD.
COMPARING NOTES AT THE END OF THE WORLD
Written by Christopher M. Walsh
Written by Christopher M. Walsh
Directed by Robert Kauzlaric
Christopher M. Walsh published his first short story, an embarrassing bit of swords-&-sorcery called "Highway Robbery," in 2001. Since then he's crossed the finish line of National Novel Writing Month three times and made his debut as an adaptor with Lifeline Theatre's 2011 production of The Count of Monte Cristo. His second play, an adaptation of China Miéville's The City & The City, will open at Lifeline in February 2013. Chris's torrid relationship with horror began in 1985, when he couldn't sleep after reading "The Mangler" by Stephen King. However, while he will greedily consume the terrors of the written word, he is ashamed to admit that still can't watch scary movies without covering his eyes. Ask Mandy. She'll tell you.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
MEET THE DEATHSCRIBE 2012 FINALISTS (part 3 of 5)
So, how do you feel about isolated houses in the woods?
Pretty cool? You're on board with that? How about the basement? You feel like headin' down there?
Yeah ok, it's not so bad, just a little spooky, nothing to worry about. But wait...what's...down...um...there?
Our next 2012 Deathscribe, Travis Williams, wants you to know. Go ahead, hold his hand. Seriously, he's a very nice-looking guy, very gentlemanly. Follow him, it's easy. Look, no tricks. He's not gonna show you anything in particular. It's no big deal, what's back here. It's just your worst nightmare. Love makes you do crazy things, and two lovers and would-be criminals confront each other, themselves, and their horrifying future when faced with THE WALL. Christy Arington directs this plunge into modern terror.
THE WALL
Written by Travis Williams
Written by Travis Williams
Directed by Christy Arington
Travis Williams is very excited to join the amazing writers of Deathscribe! Hailing from Ohio, Travis has been active in the Chicago arts community for several years, and is a proud company member with Theatre Seven of Chicago. He has been writing stories and plays from a very young age, and has always been a fan of the strange and scary. Thanks to my wife Elizabeth for her love and support, and thanks to WildClaw for creating this horrorific event!
Friday, November 30, 2012
MEET THE DEATHSCRIBE 2012 FINALISTS (part 2 of 5)
Fish are scary.
We can just agree on that. Everything that lives underwater is terrifying.
Here in Chicago, we just know something, someday, many-tentacled, many-eyed, and flesh-hungry is going to crawl out of that big ol' lake. Someday.
Our next 2012 Deathscribe is an award-winning dramatist who hails from the wind-chapped apocalyptic wasteland once known as "Michigan." (Or as WildClaw founding artistic director called it, "Mitch-igan.") Joseph has treated us to a dark tale of greed, deception, and the wickedness of nature itself. Three men find themselves alone in a snowstorm, with only each other for company (or competition), and what may be an unknown species in the bathtub. You're heard about the one that got away, and about the catch that was this big!, but this here ain't no ordinary FISH STORY. This delicious creature feature is directed by Kevin Theis.
Joseph Zettelmaier is a Michigan-based playwright and three-time nominee for the Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association Award for best new play, first in 2006 for All Childish Things, then in 2007 for Language Lessons and in 2010 for It Came From Mars. Other plays include Dead Man’s Shoes, And The Creek Don’t Rise, The All Childish Things Trilogy, Dr. Seward’s Dracula, First Snow, Blackwater Ballad, Night Blooming, Point of Origin, and The Stillness Between Breaths. The Stillness Between Breaths won Best New Play 2005 from the Oakland Press and was selected (as was It Came From Mars) to appear in the National New Play Network’s Festival of New Plays. He also co-authored Flyover, USA: Voices From Men of the Midwest at the Williamston Theatre (Winner of the 2009 Thespie Award for Best New Script). It Came From Mars was a recipient of 2009’s Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award, and won Best New Script 2010 from the Lansing State Journal. Dead Man’s Shoes won the Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award in 2011, and won both a Lansing Pulsar Award and Wilde Award for Best New Script. His newest script, Ebenezer, will be performed this winter at Williamston Theatre. He is an Associate Artist at Performance Network, and an adjunct lecturer at Eastern Michigan University, where he teaches Dramatic Composition. Joseph was recently profiled in the March 2012 issue of American Theatre Magazine, and can be reached at www.jzettelmaier.com.
We can just agree on that. Everything that lives underwater is terrifying.
Here in Chicago, we just know something, someday, many-tentacled, many-eyed, and flesh-hungry is going to crawl out of that big ol' lake. Someday.
Our next 2012 Deathscribe is an award-winning dramatist who hails from the wind-chapped apocalyptic wasteland once known as "Michigan." (Or as WildClaw founding artistic director called it, "Mitch-igan.") Joseph has treated us to a dark tale of greed, deception, and the wickedness of nature itself. Three men find themselves alone in a snowstorm, with only each other for company (or competition), and what may be an unknown species in the bathtub. You're heard about the one that got away, and about the catch that was this big!, but this here ain't no ordinary FISH STORY. This delicious creature feature is directed by Kevin Theis.
FISH STORY
Written by Joseph Zettelmaier
Written by Joseph Zettelmaier
Directed by Kevin Theis
Joseph Zettelmaier is a Michigan-based playwright and three-time nominee for the Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association Award for best new play, first in 2006 for All Childish Things, then in 2007 for Language Lessons and in 2010 for It Came From Mars. Other plays include Dead Man’s Shoes, And The Creek Don’t Rise, The All Childish Things Trilogy, Dr. Seward’s Dracula, First Snow, Blackwater Ballad, Night Blooming, Point of Origin, and The Stillness Between Breaths. The Stillness Between Breaths won Best New Play 2005 from the Oakland Press and was selected (as was It Came From Mars) to appear in the National New Play Network’s Festival of New Plays. He also co-authored Flyover, USA: Voices From Men of the Midwest at the Williamston Theatre (Winner of the 2009 Thespie Award for Best New Script). It Came From Mars was a recipient of 2009’s Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award, and won Best New Script 2010 from the Lansing State Journal. Dead Man’s Shoes won the Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award in 2011, and won both a Lansing Pulsar Award and Wilde Award for Best New Script. His newest script, Ebenezer, will be performed this winter at Williamston Theatre. He is an Associate Artist at Performance Network, and an adjunct lecturer at Eastern Michigan University, where he teaches Dramatic Composition. Joseph was recently profiled in the March 2012 issue of American Theatre Magazine, and can be reached at www.jzettelmaier.com.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
MEET THE DEATHSCRIBE 2012 FINALISTS (part 1 of 5)
Alright kids. DEATHSCRIBE 2012 is right around the corner, ready to haunt your dreams and make you think of things like this:
And this:
But see the thing is, all that shit's IN YOUR MIND. Our intrepid crews of actors, musicians, and foley artists aren't gonna show you any of this, they're going to make you see it in your own dark, lonely, twisted, terrifying imagination (we love you) through the wonders of sound.
But before any of those insane artists dive into creating such sonic scares, some asylum escapee has to think that stuff up and write it down using...I'm gonna say ichor. Just like every year, this year's DEATHSCRIBE features the work of five sagely psychos, five tormented souls who know all too well what the world is, what it was, and what it is certain to become. And they want to share.
Our first Deathscribe of 2012 is a fella name Brandon Zachary. Brandon invites us to a poker game at the table of Hell, where nothing is as it seems and no one truly wins. Is this game hosted by a demon? Is it an insane billionaire? Or is it AN ABSTRACT THOUGHT WITH SINISTER INTENTIONS? Damon Kiely directs this five-card mindfuck.
I'd also like to note that Brandon is the youngest Deathscribe finalist to date. Hear that, college students across the world? Get to writing. We want your nightmares.
Brandon Zachary is a student at Columbia College in Chicago, currently working on a screenwriting concentration. He is a graduate of the Second City sketch writing program, and a staff writer for Ain't It Cool News. All these things combine to form a twenty one year old slacker who watches too many films.
I never got a headshot from Brandon, so I can only assume he looks like this:
And this:
But see the thing is, all that shit's IN YOUR MIND. Our intrepid crews of actors, musicians, and foley artists aren't gonna show you any of this, they're going to make you see it in your own dark, lonely, twisted, terrifying imagination (we love you) through the wonders of sound.
But before any of those insane artists dive into creating such sonic scares, some asylum escapee has to think that stuff up and write it down using...I'm gonna say ichor. Just like every year, this year's DEATHSCRIBE features the work of five sagely psychos, five tormented souls who know all too well what the world is, what it was, and what it is certain to become. And they want to share.
Our first Deathscribe of 2012 is a fella name Brandon Zachary. Brandon invites us to a poker game at the table of Hell, where nothing is as it seems and no one truly wins. Is this game hosted by a demon? Is it an insane billionaire? Or is it AN ABSTRACT THOUGHT WITH SINISTER INTENTIONS? Damon Kiely directs this five-card mindfuck.
I'd also like to note that Brandon is the youngest Deathscribe finalist to date. Hear that, college students across the world? Get to writing. We want your nightmares.
AN ABSTRACT THOUGHT WITH SINISTER INTENTIONS
Written by Brandon Zachary
Written by Brandon Zachary
Directed by Damon Kiely
Brandon Zachary is a student at Columbia College in Chicago, currently working on a screenwriting concentration. He is a graduate of the Second City sketch writing program, and a staff writer for Ain't It Cool News. All these things combine to form a twenty one year old slacker who watches too many films.
I never got a headshot from Brandon, so I can only assume he looks like this:
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