DEATHSCRIBE 2009 @ the Music Box - A Frightening Success!

By Venus Zarris

Congratulations to WildClaw Theatre for pulling off a wonderful evening of theatrical chills. DEATHSCRIBE 2009 proved to be an extraordinary night for both theater and horror fans alike, proving that WIldClaw Theatre is as serious about drama as they are fun.

The haunted Music Box Theatre Music Box Theatre | About Us (scroll down for story about the theatre’s ghost!) provided the perfect setting for this convergence of theatrics and horror enthusiasm. Five radio plays were chosen from submissions to the DEATHSCRIBE 2009 contest and given exceptional productions.

  • The Most Beautiful Woman in the World
    written by Clint Sheffer
    directed by Cecilie Keenan
  • Bags of Blood
    written by Daniel Caffrey
    directed by Don Hall
  • The Dust Gods of Dr. Gaul
    written by Jude Mire
    directed by Robert Breuler
  • Remembrance
    written by Chris Hainsworth
    directed by Nic Dimond
  • The Skinny Man
    written by Scott T. Barsotti
    directed by Katie McLean
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In between these intriguing dramatic offerings were mingled wonderful live music, provided by the band Seeking Wonderland, hysterical staged commercials for sponsoring businesses and brilliant readings from the novels Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, written by Seth Grahame-Smith and performed by Lance Baker, and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, written by Ben H. Winters and performed by David Darlow.
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Chris Hainswoth’s riveting creation Remembrance was chosen as the winner of this Second Annual International Festival of Radio Horror Plays. Through a series of dated medical recordings, it tells the story of a promising retroviral vaccine for Alzheimers disease that takes a terrifying turn for the worse. Hainswoth’s play displays a profound imagination and proves that less can be more when it comes to creating tension, drama and climax. I have often thought that one of the most tragic aspects of aging is trying to compartmentalize the decades of overwhelming memories and Remembrance takes this notion to its horrifying extremes.
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DEATHSCRIBE 2009 delivered the audience back to a time when words and sound effects, wonderfully delivered for this evening’s program by Foley Sound Effect artists Brian Amidei and Scott Tallarida, could create more visceral impact than any make-up, visual violence or CGI images and also proved that there is nothing antiquated about the power of well written and exceptionally produced radio plays.
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Chicago Stage Review congratulates WildClaw Theatre and all of the gifted talent involved for honoring new writers working in an old genre and for producing such a completely triumphant event. Congratulations also to Chris Hainswoth for winning the 2009 Bloody Axe Award in the midst of such impressive entries.
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Special Note: As part of the evening’s program, WildClaw Theatre’s Artistic Director Charley Sherman delivered a powerful rendition of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem Annabel Lee and followed it with the special announcement of WildClaw’s upcoming staged production. In the spring they will be producing a World Premiere stage adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s novel Legion. Stay tuned to WildClaw Theatre’s website for further details!
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WildClaw Theatre - Bringing Horror and the Supernatural to the Chicago Stage

2 Responses to “Congratulations to WildClaw Theatre and Chris Hainsworth”

  1. 11:12 am, 6 October, 2009 р.
    J. Scott Hill says:

    Deathscribe is a wonderful event for fans of horror, theatre, horror theatre, new original writing, and/or old-time radio. Plus, the Music Box is a gorgeous venue that seldom gets used for live shows.

    I want to make special mention of Brian Amidei. He was menacing as Joe the zombie in The Revenants, he was the grease that kept Zombie Bowling II moving, and he performed all of the amazing live foley last night. Brian Amidei can eat my spicy brains.

  2. 7:11 pm, 7 October, 2009 р.
    New morsels… « scott t. barsotti: playwright…n’at says:

    [...] “DEATHSCRIBE 2009 proved to be an extraordinary night for both theater and horror fans alike…a completely triumphant event.” ~ Chicago Stage Review [...]

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