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May 31, 2006

Prince's Skin

Some of you might not know that before Mysterious Skin was a film, it was also a stage production. The novel was adapted by a great playwright--who later became a great friend--Prince Gomolvilas (and if you click on that link, you can go to his very cool site; I also highly recommend his online journal). The show opened in the spring of 2003 at the New Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. (If you're interested, you can find a couple of archived reviews of the show here and here.) Arturo Catricala was the director of the run, and the play had the following (really terrific) cast: Taylor Valentine as Brian; Joseph Parks as Neil; Rebecca Fisher as Avalyn; and Megan Towle as various other female roles and Rich Dymer as various male roles.

As you might guess by that listing of actors and roles, the MSkin theater production is quite different in many ways from the novel and movie, especially in its structure. Michael and I went to SF for that opening week, and I thought Prince did an amazing job reinterpreting the story for the stage--rejuvenating the "mystery" aspects of the story, making the violence more confrontational in spots, boosting the character of Avalyn. So why am I telling you this three years after the San Francisco run? Because on June 2nd, this coming Friday, the show is opening at another venue--this time at the Rude Guerrilla Theater in Santa Ana, CA.

Above is the poster for the show. This time the production is directed by Dave Barton. You can find out more about showtimes, cast, and other necessary info at the Rude Guerrilla website. Both Prince and I will be in attendance on Saturday, June 17th, so if you're there, say hi.

PS--Tomorrow, I promise, will be my horror film follow-up. Oh, and PS #2--there isn't just one baby fox slinking around our back yard. Now there are three. And last week they left a disemboweled squirrel on our front steps.