oldsoundroom
presents

OCTOBER IN THE CHAIR AND OTHER FRAGILE THINGS
Based on the Short Stories of Best Selling Author Neil Gaiman

Adapted by the oldsoundroom ACTING ENSEMBLE
Directed & Scored by MICHAEL McQUILKEN

Featuring
WILLIAM DeMERRIT, LAURA GRAGTMANS, ELIA MONTE-BROWN,
JACKSON MORAN, & MICHAEL McQUILKEN

Lighting Design: SOLOMON WEISBARD
Masks & Sunbird Puppet Design: MICHAEL McQUILKEN
All Puppets Except Sunbird: ELIZABETH BARRETT GROTH
Sound Design: MICHAEL McQUILKEN
Clothing Donated by NICHOLAS K
Press Representation: GLENNA FREEDMAN

The American Theatre of Actors
314 West 54th Street
New York, NY 10019
www.oldsoundroom.com
October 29 through November 2, 2014

If you are unfamiliar with NEIL GAIMAN, he is the author of the novel “Coraline” and helped adapt it for the animated film version. Beyond that, his dark absurdist tales are cult favorites of fantasy and sci-fi fans. This production is an interpretation of five stories from his book “Fragile Things”.

Five of The Months are assembled. October sits on his throne, ruler of the meeting. He is a fearsome creature with devilish horns and a painted face. His authority is unquestioned, his power obvious in his words and actions. Reigning among the dead trees and cobwebs in the half-light, he orders each of the others to tell a tale never told before, then receive a reward.

Cantankerous August complains his way into going first. His creation is suitably black and macabre. It’s adapted from GAIMAN’s story “Feeders and Eaters”. It is a grim as it sounds. It involves blood and raw meat. Let’s just leave it at that.

Second is the lovely, chain-smoking February. Her imaginative recital of a most intriguing yet morbid Valentine’s Day love story also involves blood and red meat. There is definitely a trend here.

Third is timid, flighty, manic May. Hers is a tale within a tale. She portrays a Victorian writer whose quill pen never stops moving and whose narrative bounces around like a tennis ball. Hers is the most entertaining narrative, with its jolts and jumps and revisions. Melodrama is her forte, and LAURA GRAGTMANS goes all the way in emoting May’s confusion and self-doubt at lightning speed. Consider that her part comes from GAIMAN’s “Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire”. It’s a complicated experience, to say the least. It includes an impressive ballet of a duel as well as puppetry. And many other things. So many other things. And, though in constant motion, she never stops talking. Never.

March, a troll, has perhaps the saddest story. Portrayed by MICHAEL McQUILKEN, he leads an unlikely group to an unlikely dinner. McQUILKEN also shines as the on-stage musician, subtly playing the piano and other instruments over in his dark corner, enhancing every morbid, funny, queasy moment of the whole production.

OCTOBER IN THE CHAIR AND OTHER FRAGILE THINGS defies classification. It is brilliantly performed and totally enjoyable, even if your skin crawls from time to time. It has ingenious yet funhouse terrors scattered throughout. It is too gory to be “Twilight Zone” material, but emits that same suspenseful feeling to permeate the dark around you. Per meat. Per me ate. Definitely a word made for these tales.

-Karen D’Onofrio-