A Penny Dreadful

A Penny Dreadful
Theater	The Hideout Theatre
Directed by	Troy Miller
Assistant Director(s)	David Schwartz
Cast	Ali Meier Andrew Schwartz Charlie Hoehn Jeremy Moran Jessica von Schramm Linzy Beltran Margaret Rose Hunsicker Rosemarie Frezza Seth Johnson Theo Daley
Crew	Tyler Lane (lighting) Paul Weiner (sound) Mike Reed (music)
Run	Dec 2014

A Penny Dreadful was the December 2014 student mainstage production at The Hideout Theatre. It drew inspiration from the Gothic horror genre.

Summary

This was an hour and a half show with a ten-minute intermission. It ran in the upstairs theater. Each performance included all ten cast members, although each show had two designated "snoggers" (scene-ographers) who donned black masks and created environments and emotions using their bodies.

The cast took the stage to the Toccata and Fugue. They then took a suggestion -- "Imagine a spooky mansion. What sort of rooms would be in such a place?" -- and began the show. The story followed a single protagonist and usually focused on love, one of the show's main grounding themes. The pacing alternated between slow-paced intensity and higher-energy horror scenes. The format utilized character monologues to better understand backstories and relationships as well as character naiveté to allow horror to escalate throughout the show.

Selected Source Material

• And Now the Screaming Starts!
• The Castle of Otranto
• Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
• Dracula
• Frankenstein

Costumes

The stage performers wore formal blacks, reds, and grays that suggested the 19th century.

Tech

The show was scored with classical music, and used red washes to emphasize murder scenes. Washes were preferred over spotlight scenes as per the genre.

Publicity Blurb

From the show announcement:

"Inspired by the tales of Bram Stoker and Edgar Allen Poe, by the British Hammer Studios horror films of the 1960s, and featuring a dash of Scooby Doo, comes an improvised gothic horror tale replete with rich characters, terrible secrets, and all kinds of spooky goings-on."

Media

Photos

• Photoset by Steve Rogers of the 12/13/14 performance.
• Photoset by Chad Wellington of the 1/10/15 performance.
• Photoset by Jay Mahavier of their 9/24/15 performance in The Threefer.

Videos

• Video of their 12/6/15 show: part 1, part 2.

More Information

• The show announcement on the Hideout's web site.
• The cast announcement on The Austin Improv Forums.
• Hideout blogpost by Troy Miller detailing his inspirations for the production.
• Hideout blogpost advertising the final performance.