Video of ETHER: The Strange afterlife of Harry Houdini & Sir Arthur Conan Doyle by Susan I. Weinstein, UPDATE since Dec.,2019
The Presentation at I.R.T. 3 nights Dec 2019, was to be the first step before a showcase.
With Covid, opportunities didn't exist. Now since Theater is back, I am open to
a production of this play in hybrid or traditional theater forms.
There are special videos not completed except for the final night, using the monitor that frames this story in our media world.
There are marvelous puppets of Houdini in water closet and other magic moments that add a dimension of hyper reality to stage magic.
The play was without these elements and the story alone moved people.
If your theater would like to explore work with this show, leave a comment here and I will contact you.
The video below is edited from the original presentation which was about
two hours in length.
Thanks,
Susan I. Weinstein
link to video of Ether presented in a Residency Workshop at I.R.T. Theater (copyright)
Script available on request, full-length original version
Leave comment for more information or contact
Great Performances by Patrick Hamilton (Houdini), Thomas Vorsteg (Conan Doyle), Lauren Elizabeth (Bess Houdini), Chelsea Rodriguez (Lady Doyle), Nathianel Hearn (Ensemble-mediums) and Sage Buchalter (Ensemble-Margery). Amazing Director, Marcus Gualberto, Stage Manager, Kelley Alonga, and visuals by Charlie Kanev.
Thanks to all who supported this presentation.- SW
***
IRT Theater Presents: Dec 19-22 2019
Our Houdini, Patrick Hamilton and Straitjacket, Bess Houdini in Atlantic City before climactic seance!
ETHER: The Strange Afterlife of Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle by
Susan I Weinstein, directed by Marcus Gualberto
I.R.T.
Theater, 154 Christopher st. NYC #3B (third floor)
Harry Houdini wrote Sir Arthur Conan Doyle a heartfelt plea to
recommend a medium “you know to be genuine.” His mother had just died and he
wanted proof she had not completely vanished. The friends investigated mediums in the U.K.,
France and the U.S., where Scientific American was to pronounce the medium Margery genuine.
They witnessed Eva C’s ecotoplasm and, in Atlantic City, Lady Doyle’s inspired
communication.
ETHER, based on their letters, recreates the seances and their
dramatically opposite narratives. As the
gap widened, the “frenemies,”
denounced each other on stages around
the world with no end but their fortunes and lives. In the Afterlife of ETHER, the two are stuck
in their passionate war about the nature
of life and death. Was the Spiritualist, a doctor and author, a deluded
fanatic? Was the ecape artist and master
of physical illusion an unbiased observer of
phenomena? As evidence mounts up,
subjective and objective truths erupt in a transcendent conclusion.
The action in this play within a play, told with projections and stage magic, orchestrated by their wives, Bess and Lady Doyle. They are aware that their
worlds; Doyle’s study and and Houdini’s show, are contained within the
Afterlife–our present in abstracted media.
They are also tethered to their husbands. Eons weary, they join forces
to resolve the bitter conflict-- so all can
move on.
Our world reverberates
ETHER’s issues. “Fake” news versus objective evidence, science vs.
faith, the role of greed and profiteering in manipulating emotion and fates. Go no further than climate catastrophe
vs. the mystery of our planet and ETHER’s metaphysical bet about physical
reality echoes the ongoing query of our species.
Marcus Gualberto is director, Charlie Kanev is scenographer,
Kelley Alonga is Stage manager. Cast Includes Lauren Elizabeth as Bess Houdini,
Patrick Hamilton as Houdini, Chelsea Rodriguez as Lady Doyle and Thomas Vorsteg
as Doyle.
Below: Houdini, the Doyles,Houdini, Bess, Doyle, Lady Doyle.
Puppet head hands for Chinese Water Torture Chamber
Below: Houdini, the Doyles,Houdini, Bess, Doyle, Lady Doyle.
Puppet head hands for Chinese Water Torture Chamber
I.R.T. Theater is a grassroots laboratory for independent theater
and performance in New York City, providing space and support to a new
generation of artists. Tucked away in the old Archive Building in Greenwich
Village, IRT’s mission is to build a
community of emerging and established artists by creating a home for the
development and presentation of new work. The presentationof ETHER is part of
the 3B Development Series.
Here is our seance table from the designer's lay-out. Found one very close.
Here is our dynamic director, Marcus Gualberto
ETHER: The Strange Afterlife of Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
ETHER is a play within a play, a story told with the aid of projections, puppetry, and stage magic. Doyle and Houdini’s afterlife is a continuation of a passionate personal war about the nature of life and death. Yet their worlds are contained within the afterlife–our present in abstracted media. Their wives, Bess and Lady Doyle, are aware of this, yet tethered to their husband’s worlds. They join forces to resolve the bitter conflict so all can move on. The journey starts with the origins of Houdini’s persona, his escapes and Doyle’s vocation and revelations. Together they investigate mediums, famous and infamous; Mr. Powell, Margery, Eva C and even Lady Doyle. Each instance they emerge with dramatically opposite narratives. As evidence mounts up. Subjective and objective truths erupt in a transcendent conclusion. Based on correspondence between Houdini
and Doyle found in the reading rom of The New York Public Library.
and Doyle found in the reading rom of The New York Public Library.
PERFORMANCES: December 19-22, 2019
TIME: 7:30pm
LENGTH OF SHOW: 90 min
PRICE:General $10.00 , Students and Seniors 5.00
At IRT:154 Christopher st. NYC #3B (third floor)
TIME: 7:30pm
LENGTH OF SHOW: 90 min
PRICE:General $10.00 , Students and Seniors 5.00
At IRT:154 Christopher st. NYC #3B (third floor)
Susan I. Weinstein‘s plays have been produced by A.C.T., at The Harold Clurman Theater (Something About That Face), read or performed at The Public Theater (WhiteWalled Babes), Trinity Rep; In 2014 she adapted Anderson’s The Little Mermaid, for a Bun Raku production. In 2018 The Wapshot Whatever: The Secret lives of Computer Programs was performed at Dixon Place, as was a staged reading of ETHER’s first act (2019). Susan is also the author of The Anarchist’s Girlfriend, Paradise Gardens, and Tales of the Mer Family Onyx (Pelekinesis 2018).
https://www.dramatistsguild.com/members/susanweinstein/
https://www.dramatistsguild.com/members/susanweinstein/
Marcus Gualberto (Director)Marcus directed William M. Hoffman’s As Is and co-directed Tennessee Williams’ Small Craft Warnings for Regeneration Theatre, which he co-founded. Other NY credits include: Richard Curtis’ Dead Zone and Lunch with Your Editor (NY Lives Festival). For four consecutive summer seasons with Actors Conservatory Ensemble/TreePeople, he produced and directed An Alfred Hitchcock Radio Play Double Feature (Rebecca and Shadow of a Doubt starring Academy Award nominee Robert Forster; Lifeboat and Strangers on a Train; The Thirty Nine Steps and Suspicion; Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Notorious) at the S. Mark Taper Foundation Amphitheatre. Upcoming NY projects: Quiet Enjoyment by Richard Curtis (October 2019); The Shadow Box by Michael Cristofer (February 2020); and will be co-directing Dennis by Jon Spano (March 2020).
Charlie Kanev (Scenographer) is a New York based puppeteer, puppet and set designer. Past credits include; The Adventures of Maya the Bee, The Cat Who Went to Heaven, Don Cristobal- Billy Club Man, Kung- Fu, Retire for the Evening, AUDL promotional video, Pip’s Island. He is currently working on a puppetry adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid.”
Kelley Alogna (Stage Manager) is a recent graduate of Gordon College with a major in Theatre Arts. She has stage managed many shows including Blood and Gifts, As You Like It, and Romeo and Juliet. Recently she has been working as an ASM at the Players Theatre for their Production of Alice and Wonderland.
Lauren Elizabeth (Bess Houdini) heads her own production company, Street Cirque, which combines traditional stage and circus. Her production, BOUDICCA, was produced at Dixon Place in 2018.
Chelsea Rodriguez (Lady Doyle) is a choreographer & drag performer, who has performed at Dixon Place , Brooklyn Arts Exchange, The Producers’ Club, Joyce SoHo. Ballerina Bizet is her stage name for gender fluid drag.
IRT Theater is a grassroots laboratory for independent theater and performance in New York City, providing space and support to a new generation of artists. Tucked away in the old Archive Building in Greenwich Village, IRT’s mission is to build a community of emerging and established artists by creating a home for the development and presentation of new work.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council, New York State Council on the Arts, and The Nancy Quinn Fund, a project of ART-NY.
PLEASE NOTE: All sales final and there is no late seating at IRT Theater.
***IRT is a fully wheelchair-accessible facility.***
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