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Featuring stage adaptations of The Haunted Tea-Cosy and
The Headless Bust.
Edmund Gravel, an Edwardian miser, tries to slice a stale
fruitcake one Christmas and releases a host of ghosts who induce
guilt in a variety of ways. It is the Ghost of Christmas to
Come, not as Dickens imagines but as Edward Gorey imagines in
"The Haunted Tea-Cosy." The inhabitants of Tea-Cosy then wander
off into the next millennium where their reasons for being here
are far from clear in the holiday tale, "The Headless Bust."
Winter 2003
MACHINAL BYSOPHIETREADWELL DIRECTED BY SEAN GRANEY
A 1928 Broadway hit, Machinal is a modern age tragedy of isolation turned to
murder. The play, Sophie Treadwell said, is about "a young woman, ready, eager for
life, for love...but deadened, squeezed, crushed by the machine-like quality of the life
surrounding." Loosely based on the sensational 1927 murder trial of Ruth
Synder, Treadwell uses this scenario as a springboard for her own speculations about what
circumstances might drive a seemingly harmless stenographer to commit murder.
"The
Hypocrites' stunning revival of Sophie Treadwell's play, Machinal, is the first
theatrical event of the new year, and it immediately raises the bar of achievement for the
season to come to an exceptionally high level. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!"
- Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times
A bitterly humorous examination of humanity's
tragic struggle for hope.
A middle-aged woman, Winnie,
finds herself increasingly submerged in a mound of earth. An incurable optimist, she
uselessly follows the daily routine of her life. Over the passage of time, the few
possessions left in her bag gradually dwindle and her only companion becomes more distant.
In Happy Days, written in Paris in 1961, Beckett once again explores the pain and
humor of time and existence.
A hard-hitting and graphic look at Manhattan's
tempestuous counter-cultural scene.
The play revolves
around the junkies, pushers, prostitutes, and other freaks that inhabit an all-night SoHo
greasy spoon. Lanford Wilson captures with gritty naturalism the look, feel, and sound of
his subjects as each character harmonizes this fast-paced song of hope and despair. Balm
in Gilead, written in 1965, was Wilson's first full length play.
