Black Box Theatre Presents THE CREATURE 10/23 - 11/7

Black Box Theatre presents a one-of-a-kind Halloween experience with the World Premiere of THE CREATURE by Trevor Allen. Rob Melrose directs this new play featuring James Carpenter* (The Creature), Gabriel Marin* (Victor Frankenstein), and Garth Petal (Captain Walton). The design team includes Cassandra Carpenter (costumes) and Cliff Caruthers, who has created an original soundscape for the production.

THE CREATURE plays October 23 through November 7 (Press opening: Sunday, October 25) at Thick House (1695 18th St., between Carolina & Arkansas) in San Francisco. For tickets ($20-30 sliding scale) or more information, the public may call (415) 401-8081 or visit thickhouse.org.

A love story, a horror story, and a story of salvation, THE CREATURE is a re-telling of the infamous Frankenstein myth as told by three narrators from Mary Shelley's classic novel: The Creature, his creator Victor Frankenstein, and Captain Walton. On an icebound ship in the Arctic, Captain Walton's crew is near mutiny. A fevered man comes aboard and in his delirium begins speaking with ghosts, recounting the story of how his overzealous thirst for scientific knowledge degenerated into horror. Told from The Creature's point of view and juxtaposing the stark first years of his existence with the scientist's denial of his creation, THE CREATURE breathes new life into this timeless supernatural tale in a fugue-like cacophony of horror, revenge, and redemption.

"I fell in love with Frankenstein, the novel, when I read it for the first time as an undergraduate at UCLA," says playwright Trevor Allen. "The chapters in the middle of the book where the ‘monster' tells his life story took me completely by surprise. It spoke to me. I was struck by how much empathy I had for the plight of this sad creature, and amazed at how eloquent he was. He was an abandoned child, an outcast, a freak in the world of men who merely wanted to be loved.

This is a completely new play, not simply an adaptation of a classic, and we were fortunate to have found the voice for The Creature in James Carpenter. He conveys the wonderful dichotomy of the creature, the innocence and anger, as well as the beautiful poetry in the language."

Black Box Theatre has assembled an exceptional ensemble and artistic team for THE CREATURE. Veteran Bay Area stage actor James Carpenter lends his considerable talent to the title role of The Creature. Carpenter's credits include productions with American Conservatory Theater, Aurora Theatre Company, San Jose Repertory Theater, TheatreWorks, Marin Theatre Company, and Shakespeare Santa Cruz, among others; he appeared in over 30 productions during his 12 years as an Associate Artist at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Other regional credits include The Old Globe Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Intiman Theatre, and The Huntington Theatre Company. He is the recipient of the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle 2007 Barbara Bladen Porter Award for consistent excellence in theater.

Also featured in THE CREATURE is Gabriel Marin as Victor Frankenstein. Marin's credits include productions at Aurora Theatre Company (Jack Goes Boating, The Devil's Disciple), SF Playhouse (Bug, Landscape of the Body), Marin Theatre Company (A Streetcar Named Desire), and A Traveling Jewish Theatre/Thick Description (Dead Mother). He has also been featured in productions at Magic Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, Center REPertory Company, Central Works, Word for Word, PlayGround, and in productions in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Rounding out the cast of THE CREATURE is Garth Petal as Captain Walton. Petal was recently seen as Serge in Yazmina Reza's Art at the Town Hall Theatre, as the Pipeman in the World Premiere of Ecstasy - A Water Fable at Golden Thread Productions, and as Henry in Cutting Ball Theater's critically acclaimed production of Maria Fornes' Mud. Other recent credits include Kobo Abe's Friends for the Brava Theater, and a turn as Vinnie Black in the original cast of the San Francisco reprise of Tony n' Tina's Wedding.

Playwright Trevor Allen was a Playwright in Residence at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program this past fall; his plays include Tenders in the Fog (San Jose Stage Company, Dean Goodman Award, Original Script), Working for the Mouse! (Impact Theatre), 49 Miles (Crowded Fire Theater), and Chain Reactions, (Theatre of Yugen, CAFÉ, and Cutting Ball Theater). He received a San Francisco Arts Commission grant for his play Zoo Logic, which was presented as part of the Magic Theatre's Z/Magic Monday series and was further developed by Crowded Fire Theater; his play One Stone: Einstein, a collaboration with Lunatique Fantastique, was developed as part of the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Allen is a two-time recipient of the SF Fringe Festival's "Best Of" award, and is the recipient of PlayGround's Emerging Playwright Award, Playwriting Fellowship, and two full-length play commissions (Lolita Roadtrip and Golden Gate Fair, forthcoming in 2010). He is an Active Member of the Dramatist's Guild of America and holds a BA in Theater from UCLA and a MFA in Creative Writing/Playwriting from SFSU.

Director Rob Melrose is the Artistic Director and co-founder of Cutting Ball Theater, where he has directed several productions, including Krapp's Last Tape, Victims of Duty, Avant GardARAMA! 2008, Endgame, The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Hamletmachine, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, Mayakovsky: A Tragedy, Roberto Zucco, The Vomit Talk of Ghosts (World Premiere), The Sandalwood Box, Pickling, Ajax, for Instance, Helen of Troy (World Premiere), and Drowning Room (World Premiere). Additionally, he translated the plays No Exit, Woyzeck, Pelléas and Mélisande, and Ubu Roi; his new translation of Ionesco's The Bald Soprano will premiere in October at Cutting Ball. Melrose's other directing credits include productions at the Guthrie Theater (Happy Days, Pen), California Shakespeare Theater (Villains, Fools, and Lovers), and Crowded Fire Theater (The Train Play). He has assistant directed productions at The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival (Hamlet, Oskar Eustis, director), Berkeley Repertory Theatre (The Pillowman, Les Waters, director), American Conservatory Theater (Indian Ink, Carey Perloff, director), Guthrie Theater (Othello, Joe Dowling, director), and Yale Repertory Theatre (Twelfth Night, Mark Rucker, director). He is currently a 2007 - 2009 recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors.

Assistant Director Matthew Graham Smith is the founding Artistic Director of Precarious Theatre in San Francisco. He is a core member of the Dell'arte Company, a group focusing on classical and emerging physical theater forms, and has directed at the Walnut Theater in Philadelphia and the HERE American Living Room series in New York City. Bay Area credits include the Yerba Buena Garden's Festival, Bay Area Playwright's Festival, Aurora Theatre, Brava, The EXIT Theatre, PlayGround, and New Conservatory Theatre Center.

Lighting Designer Stephanie Buchner's recent designs include Thom Pain at Cutting Ball, Current Nobody for Just Theatre, Peter Pan at Berkeley Playhouse, and Macbeth at Women's Will. Additional credits include productions at Impact Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, FoolsFURY, Campo Santo, and Shakespeare Santa Cruz.

Costume Designer Cassandra Carpenter has designed in the Bay Area for over 15 years; her credits include productions at Aurora Theatre Company, Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Center REPertory Company, American Conservatory Theater, Smuin Ballets S.F., Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and San Jose Repertory Theatre, among others. Carpenter owns and operates an independent costume studio in San Francisco, CMC & design, and is a member of USA Local 829.

Composer and sound designer Cliff Caruthers has created soundscapes and music for over a 100 Bay Area productions. He is an Artistic Associate at Cutting Ball Theater, the resident sound designer for TheatreWorks, and a company member of Crowded Fire Theater. Additionally, he is co-curator of the San Francisco Tape Music Center and technical director for the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival. Recent theater projects include Berkeley Repertory Theatre, SF Playhouse, Guthrie Theater, and American Conservatory Theater.

Scenic Designer Michael Locher's credits include productions on Broadway, and regional credits at the Magic Theatre, Cutting Ball Theater, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Crowded Fire Theater, A Traveling Jewish Theatre, Guthrie Theater, and Yale Repertory Theatre, among others.

Managing Producer Karen McKevitt is most well known as the editor-in-chief of Theatre Bay Area magazine, the only regional theatre industry magazine of its kind in the country. She received a New York Times Fellowship to attend the O'Neill Critics Institute and has written about local theater for American Theatre, SF Weekly, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and SFist. She's also the editor of WorkingfortheMouse.com, Trevor Allen's serialized blog of his award-winning solo show about working as a character at Disneyland.

Founded by Trevor Allen with producer Karen McKevitt, Black Box Theatre Company is dedicated to new, live performance. In 2007, the company presented THE CREATURE as a series of podcasts recorded live from a staged reading at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco. Additionally, the company received a "Best of the San Francisco Fringe Festival Award" in 2000 for the original production Chain Reactions.

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