Mixed Magic Theatre Presents FRANKENSTEIN, Now thru 5/24

Mixed Magic Theatre at Lorraine Mills will present FRANKENSTEIN, Adapted by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley from tonight, May 15-24. Call 401-305-7333 or visit WWW.MMTRI.COM for tickets.

Born in 1797, Mary Shelley was 19 years old when she wrote Frankenstein. As brilliant as she was rebellious, Shelley is widely regarded as having brought the world the first science fiction novel with timeless messages relevant today.

Ricardo Pitts-Wiley began his stage adaptation of Frankenstein with a question: What do we do with the monsters we create, and what do they do with us? Employing many of the same New Media Literacies concepts that brought his critically-acclaimed stage adaptation of Moby Dick to life, Frankenstein has been infused with elements of technology, pop culture and current events. Pitts-Wiley is a great believer in using things that people know to teach them things they don't know.

In the novel, Victor Frankenstein assembled a "thing" from the body parts he recovered from graves and morgues. After giving it life, Victor abandons his creation, his child, to find its own way in the world. But the child searches for the parent, ultimately resorting to violence as a means to get attention. When "The Creature" (who is never given a name) finds his maker, we come to see that it wants what most everyone wants: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. It wants to be useful and safe from abuse. It wants to be warm and free from hunger. It does not want to be alone. When it is denied those things, a monstrous rage is unleashed.

In Pitts-Wiley's adaptation, "The Creature" is played by three actors walking on stilts, achieving the eight feet in height the novel indicates. They also play different aspects of "The Creature's" complex personality.

The novel addresses past and contemporary issues of ethics, prejudice, personal responsibility and the consequences of monster making . The adaptation talk backs focus on the need for meaningful conversations with others before violence is used as a way to get attention.