"Dreams in the Witch House" -The 4th Dimension

by J David Moeller

Thomas Whittington plays Walter Gilman who discovers

a way in and out of the Fourth Dimension in WildClaw Theatre's
"Dreams in the Witch House"

Chicago; -"Dreams in the Witch House" takes place on "May Eve" in Arkham, Massachusetts.

The local police have instigated a "Walpurgis Curfew" to protect the townsfolk from the strange goings on that occur annually on April 30...around midnight.

Seems a newborn baby dissappears...never to be found. A serial killer? Witchcraft? Magic?

Gilman seeks answers to why he's having certain disturbing dreams from Prof. Upham, his geometry professor who advocates keeping an open mind vis-a-vis the study of higher mathematics and the link to folklore and mythology.

But there are other questions that perplex Gilman as well. Who is Maurewicz, the quirky neighbor? Or Keziah Mason, long dead these two hundred years. Why does everyone shudder at the mention of the name Brown Jenkins? What is the strange connection to Lillith, the young pregnant woman he met on the bus to Arkham?

"Dreams in the Witch House" -the accents.

J David Moeller, reporting.

-Chicago; "Dreams in the Witch House" takes place in H.P. Lovecraft's mythical town of Arkham, Massachusetts at the equally mythical Miskatonic University.

There are ten cast members, some of whom are playing multiple characters. Accents are flying all over the place. There's a German lodger in the Witch House as well as various characters (priests, policemen, librarians, witches, familiars, mothers and fathers, university students) from around the area using varying degrees of regional and middle American dialects.

Wrangling all these sounds into a cohesive melange is Jason Kirk Martin.

Jason watches as actors go through their paces in the dialect workshop.

The cast had it's first meeting with Jason Wednesday. He began his coaching with the physicalization of the accents and sounds; and by having the actors move about the rehearsal space while listening to examples of the accents being worked and then having them imagine and exagerate the physical characteristics of the recorded voices while echoing what they heard.

Kate Brown exaggerates one of her characters in a dialect workshop.
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Poster design by Charlie Athanas

--Running November 16 thru December 21 at Chicago's Atheneaum Theater Studio 3--

"Dreams in the Witch House" -It Begins...

J David Moeller, reporting:

-Chicago; WildClaw Theatre's Charley Sherman has adapted H.P. Lovecraft's horror tale "Dreams in the Witch House" into a four act play and is directing 10 highly skilled actors playing 29 roles. Set to open November 16th in Chicago's Atheneaum Theater, the play examines folklore, witchcraft, betrayal, murder, coincidence and horror in a quest to scare the bejeebies out of it's audiences.

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Cast members at the first read-through of the script. Dir. Charley Sherman (c.)

The WildClaw Theatre company was formed specifically to bring horror, science fiction, and fantasy works to the live stage. It's premier production was another of Sherman's adaptations; the horror master Edward Machen's "The Great God Pan".

Play posters by Charlie Athanas

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