Press Release

 

VAMPIRES, GHOSTS, WEREWOLVES AND A MUMMY GIVE DOWNTOWN GREENSBORO A SATIRICAL FRIGHT

Charles Ludlam’s penny dreadful, The Mystery of Irma Vep, returns to Triad Stage September 29 – October 15, 2011

(Greensboro, NC) — The outrageous comedy from Triad Stage’s first season, The Mystery of Irma Vep, is back in an intimate new production in The UpStage Cabaret. It’s a wild funhouse adventure featuring great comic performances, lightning-fast quick changes and hair-raising suspense. Vampires, ghosts, werewolves and a mummy wreak havoc in this raucous parody of Victorian morals and Hollywood horror. From England’s mysterious moors to the depths of an Egyptian tomb, this two-man “tour de farce” takes on everyone from the Brontës to Mel Brooks. The Mystery of Irma Vep runs September 29 – October 15, 2011. Opening Night is Friday, September 30.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Charles Ludlam was a multi-talented, off-the-wall and out-of-the-closet actor, playwright, director and producer whose Ridiculous Theatrical Company broke boundaries and helped define the avant-garde Off-Off-Broadway movement. He was born in New York and educated at Hofstra University. He first acted professionally in New York in 1967, and later that year he founded his own troupe and was busy for the next twenty years, the company going from obscurity to campy cult interest to citywide admiration. Ludlam and his longtime companion, Everett Quinton, usually played the leading roles (male or female) in his outrageous spoofs, although as time went by he employed less camp and more of a highly theatrical style. His Marguerite Gautier in Camille in 1974 was perhaps the role most identified with Ludlam, and his 1984 play, The Mystery of Irma Vep, is his most revived in theatres across the country. He died in 1987 at the age of 44.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
Bryan Conger, Triad Stage’s new Artistic Associate, directs The Mystery of Irma Vep. Last seen directing Billy Bishop Goes to War in The UpStage Cabaret, Conger hails The Mystery of Irma Vep as a “celebration of all that is ridiculous in gothic horror, Victorian melodrama and traditional theatrical convention.” He continues, “It is done with a level of sophistication and wit that challenges both the audience and the director. And, who doesn’t love a play with werewolves, vampires and mummies?”

The two person cast, taking on the multiple inhabitants of Mandacrest Estate, features Triad Stage favorite Michael Tourek, seen in A Christmas Carol, Around the World in 80 Days and Beautiful Star, and Kirby Wahl, an associate professor in the Department of Performing Arts at Elon University, making his Triad Stage debut.

The creative team includes scenic designer John V. Bowhers, costume designer Andrew Landon Cutler, lighting designer David Jonathan Palmer and sound designer Rudy Garcia III. The stage manager is Emily J. Mails.  

Biographies for the cast and creative team are online at www.triadstage.org.
Tickets are $18, $12 to the September 29 Preview performance. Cabaret Club members can purchase discounted tickets to all performances for $12. Seating is general admission. The doors open thirty minutes prior to each performance for bar service inside The UpStage Cabaret space. Tickets and Cabaret Club memberships are on sale now at the Triad Stage Box Office and online through Triad Stage’s website.

The September 30 Opening Night performance is hosted by 105.7 Hit Music Now, with pre-show desserts provided by Amoroso’s Bakery.

All performances are at Triad Stage’s UpStage Cabaret on the top floor of The Pyrle Theater, located at 232 South Elm Street in historic downtown Greensboro, North Carolina (between Market and Washington Streets).

Show times for The Mystery of Irma Vep are Thursday – Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m.

ABOUT TRIAD STAGE
Triad Stage is a professional not-for-profit regional theater company based in Greensboro’s downtown historic district. All Triad Stage productions are created in Greensboro using the best of local and national talent. Triad Stage gratefully acknowledges the support of its Season Sponsors: Mitre Agency, the North Carolina Arts Council and the United Arts Council of Greater Greensboro. The UpStage Cabaret media partners are 105.7 Hit Music Now and 100.3 The Buzz.

All Triad Stage productions feature the bold acting and breathtaking design that have been nationally recognized by The Wall Street Journal and by the American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards®, which named Triad Stage one of the top ten most promising theatres in the country as a recipient of the 2010 National Theatre Company Grant. Triad Stage has also earned accolades including “Best North Carolina Production of 2010” for The Glass Menagerie by Triangle Arts & Entertainment magazine; “One of the Best Regional Theatres in America”, New York’s Drama League; “Best Live Theater”, Go Triad/News & Record and The Rhinoceros Times; and “Professional Theater of the Year”, North Carolina Theatre Conference. 

ABOUT THE UPSTAGE CABARET
Hailed as Triad Stage’s “Underground theater space, four stories about South Elm Street”, The UpStage Cabaret is the centerpiece of The Pyrle Theater’s top floor. Created with flexibility and intimacy in mind, The UpStage Cabaret has seating with tables for 90 people, bar service and a relaxed, easy-going atmosphere that blends downtown flair with uptown chic. Anchored by three Triad Stage productions, The UpStage Cabaret plays host to Entertainment UpStage – a series of over 100 performances that includes film screenings, live concerts, poetry readings, theatrical productions, dance, storytelling and more events from Triad Stage’s fifteen partner artists and organizations.

To purchase tickets or for performance information on The Mystery of Irma Vep, call the Triad Stage Box Office at 336.272.0160 or toll-free at 866.579.TIXX (8499), or visit www.triadstage.org.

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