Bloodletters - new play by Tom Sime June 12, 2008

T H E M O D E R N S T A G E
www.themodernstage.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 3, 2008

Joe Black and The Modern Stage present
BLOODLETTERS
a scary comedy by Tom Sime
June 12-29, 2008 at Teatro Dallas

The Modern Stage and producer Joe Black present the premiere of Bloodletters, a scary comedy by Tom Sime. The play will open Thursday, June 12 and continue through June 29 at Teatro Dallas, 1331 Record Crossing Road (between Harry Hines and Stemmons Freeway) in Dallas. Acclaimed director, designer and violence choreographer Robin Armstrong directs. Cindee Mayfield will star.

Bloodletters tells the parallel stories of Grace, a middle-aged horror fiction writer, and the characters in one of her stories. Each of the five actors plays at least two characters: one in the play, one in the story within. While Grace lives a quiet and congenial suburban life with her retired husband Ray, the fictional world is roiling with sexuality and bloodlust. When Graces pre-teen granddaughter reads one of the forbidden stories, the worlds seem to crash into each other, and both layers of the scenario meet in a darkly funny jaw-dropper of an ending.

Sime says the character of Grace was inspired by Joyce Carol Oates, the bestselling novelist noted for the disturbing violence of her fiction. The playwright idolized Oates as a young adult, and later met and interviewed her while an arts writer at The Dallas Morning News.

I always wondered how such a meek-seeming, delicate person could imagine such mayhem, Sime says of Oates. Did she tap into some alternate universe of grand guignol, or was the violence she dreamed up a grotesque metaphor for her own suppressed rage? It was this conundrum, rather than the actual life or works of Oates, that gave rise to the play.

The play was presented in a March 2007 staged reading presented by WingSpan Theatre Company and directed by Armstrong. The response from both critics and audiences was intense and enthusiastic.

Two threads of action, full of striking twists and turns and peopled with intriguing characters, unfold in a riveting and sexually-charged plot that finally ties all loose ends together in a totally chilling, satisfying and unexpected manner. Hold on to your seatsits a breathless ride from the moment the lights come up, wrote Alexandra Bonifield of Lakewood-Now.net. Glenn Arbery of People Newspapers called the play "a domestic comedy routed through Anne Rice and Stephen KingAudiences might be surprised at what lurks in Tom Simes imagination. Lets just say it could make Quentin Tarantino wince.

***Please note: this play includes adult language, violence and sexual situations, and is recommended for mature audiences.***

Performance times: Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. Late Night Friday shows June 20 and 27 at 11 p.m. Additional performance Monday, June 23 at 8 p.m. A Talk-Back with the director, playwright, and cast is scheduled for Sunday, June 15 immediately following the play (attendance at play is not mandatory, Talk-Back is free!)

Tickets are $20 Sundays, Late Nights and Monday; $25 Thursdays; and $30 Fridays and Saturdays. Tickets are available at 800-595-4849. Patrons may get on a mailing list at www.themodernstage.com. For press information, call Lisa Taylor of Taylor-Made Press at 214-943-1099, email [email protected] or email [email protected].

Event submitted by Eventful.com on behalf of artsdallas.