ITHAQA ONLINE to Livestream Performances Next Week

Live theater meets horror comics meets digital streaming from March 31 to April 4, 2020 at 7.30pm, when the creators of ITHAQA, a new horror comic, stage a digital theatrical reading of their 1920's "Lovecraftian" adventure!

Michael Watson and Lisa VillaMil found their respective creative endeavors in art and theater disrupted due to the Coronavirus pandemic. As freelancers in the arts, they watched as their friends and co-workers lost contracts, book tours, and theater events they had spent months or even years building towards. With no relief in sight, and no obvious way forward for the live arts, Michael and Lisa envisioned a way to join the world of comic books with the world of live theater, but in a safe, digital format.

They came up with ITHAQA ONLINE, a 5-night, theatrical live-stream event of Michael Watson's 1920's comic, ITHAQA. Watson and VillaMil plan to live-stream the yet-to-be published Issue 2 of ITHAQA to a world deprived of live theater and, in many cases, forced to remain indoors. ITHAQA ONLINE will feature professional actors, complete with costumes, sound effects, and music, and will be accessible to everyone in the world for FREE via Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Mixer, and Twitch. Pick your platform, kick back, and treat yourself to a night of live theater.

To facilitate ITHAQA ONLINE, Michael and Lisa will bring all of their actors into a Zoom video conference call, and then stream the performance live, where digital audience members will be able to like, comment, and tip the production.

The whole production process will be completely transparent so that other thespians looking to replicate the format will have the tools to keep their productions alive in an era of unprecedented social distancing.

The digital theatrical run coincides with the comic, ITHAQA's, second major Kickstarter campaign, which began on March 16, and is raising funds to print new issues until April 6.

ITHAQA is a comedy-turned-Lovecraftian horror story that will appeal to readers who enjoyed HBO's True Detective, but thought it would be copacetic if it had been set at the advent of the roaring 20s. In ITHAQA, filmmaker and conman, Mookie Smitts, stumbles upon the horrible Eldritch Truth of the cosmos, as a moving picture he is struggling to produce in the 1920's accidentally uncovers a plot to destroy the Spacetime Continuum.

A successful Kickstarter campaign in 2019 allowed the ITHAQA team to print their first issue and expand their audience, and Watson hopes to catch lightning in a bottle a second time, to fund a physical print run of Issues 2 and 3. People who pledge to fund the comic will not only receive physical copies, but will also be able to receive bonus rewards that range from art prints, to being drawn into future issues.

"It was heartbreaking for me to have to cancel my first ever book tour," says Watson. "I wasn't sure what my path going forward was going to be, and then Lisa had the brilliant idea to put on an entirely digital production!"

ITHAQA ONLINE will feature the acting talents of Elsa Kegelman, Masa Gibson, Ian Moody, Adaeze Nwoko, Christopher David Roché, Yannick Trapman-O'Brien, and Lisa VillaMil. Weaving together comics, theatre, and technology, the team hopes to create a new kind of media tapestry.

Theatergoers looking to watch the digital production should like ITHAQA's Facebook Page, as this is where they will be able to watch the livestreams:
https://www.facebook.com/IthaqaComic/

To read the first issue of the comic online for free, subscribe for updates at:
https://www.ithaqacomic.com/contact-us

For information about the ITHAQA Kickstarter campaign to print issues 2 and 3 check out:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/494808041/ithaqa-comic-issues-2-and-3?ref=9s7jva