Raging Squid Ink and Eric Schmalenberger have announced the
world premiere production of Jake Thomas' THE DEAD DREAM MACHINE, video art directed by Sean Gill and directed and choreographed by Rachel Klein. THE DEAD DREAM MACHINE will play a limited engagement at La Luz (135 Thames Street, Brooklyn, NY). Performances begin tonight, September 18 and continue through Saturday, October 13. Opening Night is Friday, September 20 (8 p.m.). Press are invited tonight, September 18 at 8 p.m., Thursday, September 19 at 8 p.m. and Friday, September 20 at 8 p.m. (and any subsequent performance).
In an abandoned theater on the outskirts of town, an experiment is being conducted-one which extracts dreams. But if this insane enterprise works, what dreams may come? Mad scientists, monstrous killers, tyrannical royalty, government witches and hipster occultists (and not one damn vampire or zombie) explode forth in this crazed horror anthology that incorporates song, dance, puppetry, aerial, magic and more to build an out of body theatrical experience.
The production stars David Call (Gossip Girl, Tiny Furniture) as Laurence Appleton, Darlinda Just Darlinda (NYC Burlesque icon, Taylor Mac's Lily's Revenge) as The Domestic Goddess, Michael Cavadias (Wonderboys, The Citizens Band, Claywoman) as
Marcus Wolfshaff,
Elena Delgado (House of Yes aerialist) as Angela,
Amy Van Doran (AKA The Matchmaker) as Cathleen, Arden Leigh ("The Rules of Attraction: How to Get Him, Keep Him, and Make Him Beg for More") as The Woman, Scooter Pie (
Rachel Klein Productions, Lady Circus) as Audrey, Eric Schmalenberger (BANZAI!!!!!, Blunderland) as The Impresario, Malia Scharf (Kenny Scharf; More, Newer, Better, Nower, Funner) as O'Connor, David F. Slone, Esq. (The Love Show) as The Host, and Ashley Springer (Teeth, Dare) as Humphrey Littlewit.
The production, produced by Eric Schmalenberger and Raging Squid Ink, features scenic design by Evan Collier with fabrication by Arch Production and Design, costume and puppet design by
Elena Delgado and Juanita Cardenas, and lighting design by
Ben Kato. Sean Gill is the video art director, the associate director and the sound designer and Marina Steinberg is the stage manager. Marketing and PR by Katie Rosin/Kampfire PR.
THE DEAD DREAM MACHINE plays the following regular schedule through Sunday, October 13: Thursdays at 8 p.m.; Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 8 p.m. There are additional performances on Wednesday, September 18 and Sunday, October 7th at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $15-$25 and are now available online at
www.deaddreammachine.eventbrite.com or by calling 1-800-350-8850. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the theater ½ hour prior to
performance. Running Time: 2 hrs.
SEAN GILL (Video Art Director) is a Brooklyn-based playwright, filmmaker, editor, musician, and writer who has written over twenty plays produced in New York, including Aenigma, Laurie Deacon & the Night Caller, Stage Blood is Never Enough, and Dreams of the Clockmaker. He has directed over thirty feature-length and short films including the Sleepy-Time Time cycle, Girls Before Swine, Growing Boy, Thursday Night, Mustache Party, Makin' a Martini, and Laughter is the Music of the Gods. His work has been screened everywhere from dingy, Midwestern basements to Brooklyn dive bars to the Canadian Film Centre to the Anthology Film Archives to the Staten Island Ferry. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Oberlin College in 2006 with Highest Honors in Cinema Studies and History. He is a member of the
Dramatists Guild of America, the founder and administrator of Junta Juleil Productions, has studied with Juan-Luis Buñuel, and is a graduate of Werner Herzog's 2010 Rogue Film School. He was also an artist-in-residence at the Bowery Poetry Club from 2011-2012. He has edited and junior edited for a number of documentary and reality television programs which have aired on the A&E and National Geographic networks.
Rachel Klein (Director) is a theater director, choreographer, and costume/production designer with a focus on inter-disciplinary theater fusion. Recent credits include the Mondo Cane Dance Commission from Dixon Place to create her dance and circus nightmare-scape, Symphony of Shadows and the critically acclaimed live-action-silent-film style morbid fantasia The Tragedy of Maria Macabre. Rachel is set to direct the Off-Broadway bound rock musical Gay Bride of Frankenstein, of which she directed a presentation at the inaugural iStar Theater Lab last summer and more recently an industry reading starring
Max von Essen and
Emma Hunton. Favorite productions include: Go-Go Killers! A 1960's retro-futuristic dance drama about gang debs on the loose, All Kinds of Shifty Villains, a pulp noir portrayal of a man slowly losing his mind, Metro, a circus infused ballet and jazz spectacle taking place on an inner city subway, and a neo-Victorian rock n roll interpretation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Rachel received nominations from the Innovative Theater Awards for Outstanding Director of a Play and for Outstanding Choreography/Movement for the aerial musical spectacular, Circus of Circus at the House of Yes in Brooklyn. Previous residencies include a monthly artistic residency at Bowery Poetry Club and an Emerging Artist's Residency to build new work through the Field and the Tides Foundation. The work with her company, the
Rachel Klein Theater Ensemble, has been presented all over the city including at the Kitchen, La MaMa, Theater for the New City, DUMBO Dance Festival, Webster Hall, Night of 1000 Stevies, the Highline Ballroom, Banzai!, the
Culture Project, DCTV, the Access Theater, the Red Lotus Room, legendary rock 'n roll club
Don Hill's, the Hiro Ballroom, the Bushwick Site Fest, Galapagos Art Space, (le) Poisson Rouge, Sullivan Hall, Bushwick Open Studios Festival, HOWL Festival, the Wild Project, and Off-Broadway at the Bleecker Street Theater (45 Bleecker). Miss Klein holds a BA in theatrical directing from Columbia College, is an alumni of the International Director's Symposium in Spoleto, Italy, and is an Associate Member of the SDC.
www.rachelkleinproductions.com
ERIC SCHMALENBERGER (Producer/ Art Director/ Performer) is a Brooklyn based producer, performer, curator, and nightlife personality. Working in a variety of different media with various ensembles, spaces, and artists, Mr. Schmalenberger's community-driven work and collaborations have included groups such as
Rachel Klein Productions, The Citizens Band, assume vivid astro focus, The Voluptuous Horror of
Karen Black, The House of Yes, and Vanessa Walters Man Dancers. Eric a producer of the infamous BANZAI parties at the Red Lotus Room where he and his co-producer Muffinhead annually put together the work of over 100 performers, visual artists, video artists, installation artists, and club personalities into a single extravagant event. He is also the producer of his solo effort BLUNDERLAND, an evening of surreal cabaret and performance art. Other favorite projects include producing Claywoman, a lecture series given by a 500 million year old being from another galaxy. Performances in Spiderman: Turn of the Lights, Circus of Circus, and The Christmas Spectacular at The House of Yes,
Rachel Klien's productions of Symphony of Shadows and Maria Macabre, a pilot for the independent sitcom BLACK BOX, producing a series of live performances for famed art collective assume vivid astro focus at their exhibit absolutely venomous accurately fallacious (naturally delicious), And his recent solo cabaret show MIRIAM, I am a LADY?
JAKE THOMAS (Playwright) is a writer, performer and producer with a keen interest in the strange, speculative and surreal. Currently an editor on top titles at MARVEL Comics, Jake is invested in highly
stylized storytelling. Favorite writing and performing credits include: the weekly absurdist sketch show Professor Top's Old-Timey Radio Hour (head writer and producer), Sean Frasier's Applewood Review (writer and performer) Junta Juleil's Theatrics (performer) Ray Sawhill and Polly Frost's Sex Scenes and The Fold (performer), Fuddy Meers and Dark of the Moon with Thirsty Turtle (performer), The Ateh's Long Distance (performer) and Mo Beasley's UrbanErotika series, where his piece "Consume" was selected for their "Best Of" show and was cited by The Huffington Post for being "particularly smart and funny." With his former theater companies Centaurface and The 7th Sign he was involved in a number of compelling pieces, including directing a production of Julius Caesar and producing and starring in
Kurt Vonnegut's Happy Birthday, Wanda June, at which Jake also led a talkback with Mr. Vonnegut. Some of his writing, reviews and his horror commentary podcast "Headcheese," which he co-hosts with Nicole Baer, can be found at
www.ragingsquidink.com.
Photo Credit: Michael Blase
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