| Frankenstein |
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Directed by: James Slowiak Co-artistic director: Jairo Cuesta and company members Debora Totti, Chris Buck, Megan Elk, Justin Hale, Jamie G. Hale, and Alex White Costume and set design: Inda Blatch-Geib Lighting design: Chris Hariasz  The New World Performance Laboratory has embarked on an investigation of the classic story of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Incorporating images from the novel and scenes from Mary Shelley’s own life, this company creation depicts the epic battle between body, mind, and soul. The characters of Frankenstein mingle with Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, his wife, and their friends in a gothic nightmare in which the young writer confronts her characters and the horror of human existence. Frankenstein seems an obvious choice of material for New World Performance Lab to tackle in performance. The novel deals with the act of creation, mortality, and the separation of body, mind, and soul in the human being. Each of these is a recurring theme in NWPL’s repertoire and performance research. Frankenstein, and the Gothic genre in general, romantically depicts the soul entrapped by the body. But French philosopher Michel Foucault proposes another image: what if the body is actually imprisoned by the soul? Is there a way to heal this split that causes so much anguish? Is there a lesson to be learned by us today from Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein, and their creature? Directed by NWPL co-artistic director and University of Akron theatre professor James Slowiak, Frankenstein displays the deeply detailed physical style of NWPL’s actors and a vocal score exploring 19th century motifs. |