Warnings and Portents and Evils Imminent... Time for SHAKESFEAR!

The Illinois Shakespeare Festival's annual Shakesfear event -- mixing some of Shakespeare's characters with the basic structure of a haunted house -- starts tomorrow night at Ewing Cultural Center in Bloomington.

There are two options: a half-hour "Haunted Tour" kicked off by the immortal Bard himself, after which brave souls will be guided around the grounds to see frightening scenes from Shakespeare recreated for them, or the "Enchanted Courtyard," which offers crafts and treats and less scary performances for everyone under the age of 8 and anyone not looking for the scary stuff.

The tours leave every ten minutes beginning at 7 pm on October 27, 28 or 29, with the last group setting out at 9:30 pm. The scenes they'll see may be on the balconies, in the gardens or even backstage at the Festival theater, wherever seems appropriate for the likes of drowned Ophelia and her seaweed-dripping locks, mad Lady Macbeth and her bloody hands, or perhaps Richard III haunted by the ghosts of everyone he murdered. Who and what will be performed this year hasn't been leaked yet, but the body count from plays like Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet and Titus Andronicus is high enough to provide plenty of material. Witches, apparitions, murderers and mischief-makers abound!

"Haunted Tours" have sold out in the past, so you are advised to make a reservation by calling the Illinois State University box office at 309-438-2535 or 866-IL-SHAKE. Buying ahead not only gets you a reserved spot at a specific time, but a lower ticket price. It's $7 for adults who plan ahead and $10 at the door (cash only) if there are spaces left. Admission for children and students is $5 either in advance or at the door.

The Ewing Cultural Center is located at 48 Sunset Road in Bloomington. Parking is available at St. John’s Lutheran Church across the road on Emerson Street. You are asked to cross the street at Emerson and Towanda Avenue so as to avoid traffic.

Please also note that special effects used in this program may include strobe lighting and loud sound and noise. Persons with conditions that can be aggravated by strobe lightning and loud noise should not attend this program. No pets or skates are allowed on the grounds of Ewing Cultural Center. If you need special accommodations to fully participate in this program/event, please contact the Illinois Shakespeare Festival at 309-438-2535. Please allow sufficient time to arrange the accommodation.

For more information, visit www.IllinoisShakes.com.

It's Way Past Time for October News

It's a busy month on local stages and screens and I'm already a few steps behind. I took a trip to the Stratford Festival in Canada, and it was wonderful, but it means I wasn't here to put together all these bits and bobs on October 1. I hope you can all handle not finding out till October 5. Let's get this October party started, shall we?

I'm a little late getting the news out about the Illinois Wesleyan production of Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone, which opened earlier tonight in the Jerome Mirza Theatre in McPherson Hall. Dead Man's Cell Phone begins when a woman in a coffee shop hears a ringing phone that just won't stop, sending her off in search of answers about the person who owned the phone. She finds a lot more questions, which turns out to be a good thing for all of us in this inventive, unsettling play about love, life and technology. Dead Man's Cell Phone plays October 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 at 8 pm and October 9 at 2 pm. 

The documentary The Beatles: Eight Days a Week, the Touring Years, called "Ron Howard's vibrant, joyous musical journey with The Beatles," is on screen at Champaign's Art Theater Co-op tomorrow and Thursday. This film takes a look behind the scenes at the phenomenon that was The Beatles as they played in venues from Liverpool's Cavern Club in their earliest years to San Francisco's Candlestick Park in 1966. The Art Theater is offering The Beatles: Eight Days a Week, the Touring Years at 7 pm on October 5 and 4 pm on October 6. For more information or to get a look at the film's trailer, click here.

Eureka College Theatre looks to Jordan Harrison's 2014 play The Grown-Up, a piece I saw at the Humana Festival of New American Plays, for its October entry, with performances October 6 through 15 at Pritchard Theatre. The Grown-Up is an adventurous romp somewhere between Alice and her Lookingglass and Peter Pan and his pirates. In this instance, the child in search of adventure is a boy named Kai who runs off to see where a magic crystal doorknob takes him. As Kai bends time and imagination, he runs into a salty old seafarer, his sister and maybe even his own future as a grown-up. For Eureka College, Cody Wirth plays Kai, with Garrison Green, Vic Griffith, Haley Joseph and Kendall Katz along on his journey.

The Normal Theater picks up weeks 3 and 4 of its Six Week Film School, focusing on Murder My Sweet on October 12 and The Postman Always Rings Twice on October 26. They're both deadly, delicious mystery movies, with the first following PI Philip Marlowe (Dick Powell) on a search for the double-crossing girlfriend of a mug named Moose Malloy and the second looking into the seamy private lives of an unhappy wife (Lana Turner) and the drifter (John Garfield) she gets to do her dirty work. Both films begin at 7 pm on their respective Wednesdays and they will be followed by a discussion led by ISU professor William McBride. For all the details, click here.

You get a second chance to see Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play, the Anne Washburn play that riffs on The Simpsons as a cultural icon and possibly a religious text in our dystopic future, when it begins at the University of Illinois October 13. Lisa Gaye Dixon directs this Illinois Theatre production in performance through October 23. Mr. Burns and friends will play in the Colwell Playhouse, but you can also see Nathan Alan Davis's Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea, which began last week, through October 14, and Anna Ziegler's take on The Minotaur beginning October 27, both in the Studio Theatre.

Waiora continues at Illinois State University's Center for the Performing Arts through October 9, while the second and third shows of the ISU season -- two short plays performed together in one evening of theater -- open October 21 in Westhoff Theatre. Those short plays are The Coffee Bar and The Walls, with The Coffee Bar hailing from Egypt and The Walls from Argentina. They are both provocative and political, with plenty to say on issues of privilege, freedom, repression and art. Janet Wilson directs The Coffee Bar with a cast that includes Gina Cleveland, Daija Nealy and Simran Sachdev. Bruce Burningham directs The Walls; his cast includes Daniel Balsamo, Daniel Esquivel and Ryan Groves.

Entering the Halloween entertainment sweeptstakes, the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts is offering the silent film version of The Phantom of the Opera, played with live organ accompaniment just like it would've been back in 1925, at 7 pm on October 25. Lon Chaney (the original, not Lon Chaney, Jr.) may've been silent, but he set the bar high for all the Phantoms who followed with his portrait of a sad, swirling Gothic monster. As Roger Ebert put it, "[T]he Phantom is invested by the intense and inventive Lon Chaney with a horror and poignancy that is almost entirely created with body language." All it takes is one hand gesture to convey "great weary sadness." And it's that "great weary sadness" that makes his a Phantom to remember.

October 27 to 29 finds the return of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival's annual ShakesFEAR event, combining some of Shakespeare's scary characters with the haunted house concept, except in this case it's the grounds around Ewing Manor getting haunted. Tours leave every ten minutes between 7 and 9:30 pm and last approximately 25 minutes. If you want to get tickets ahead, check out this page for all the information.

As always, I will add individual pieces on other shows and events I find out about in the meantime.

October 23 Openings, Part One: SHAKESFEAR!

Have you been asking yourself why everything in town of a theatrical nature seems to open on the same night? I have no answer to that question, except that there are 52 weekends in the year and about ten other holidays that occupy weekend space. If you want to have an open weekend to open your show and no major obstruction during the run, it stands to reason you'll be choosing from the same dates as everyone else.

And that's why there are three different -- very different -- theatrical options opening this Thursday, October 23, with another stand-alone show on Saturday the 25th. But first... The 23rd!

Alphabetically, the first one is ShakesFEAR!, the Illinois Shakespeare Festival's newest foray into year-round events. ShakesFEAR! is mostly a good, old-fashioned haunted house set at stately Ewing Manor (in the dark), with actors portraying Shakespeare's scariest characters for your entertainment and an added attraction in something they're calling Juliet's Enchanted Courtyard, which is less scary and more appropriate for children (and adults) who prefer fun and crafts to the blood that won't wash off Lady Macbeth's hands or the parade of murder victims haunting Richard III.

I don't know that either Lady M or R III will be involved in ShakesFEAR!, mind you, but I think that's a decent bet, along with frightful choices taken from among Macbeth's three witches, Hamlet's scary dad back from the dead to deliver a message, dead Caesar back from the dead to taunt Brutus, Banquo's ghost, a fortune-teller or two with bad news, Prospero scaring up a storm, and maybe a tricky fairy like Puck or Ariel tormenting people in one way or another.

Whew. Shakespeare really is a good fit for Halloween, isn't he?

Illinois Shakespeare Festival Macbeth, 2013
Photo: Pete Guither
Featured: Wendy Robie, Amanda Catania, Eva Balistrieri

Andy Park, who is directing ShakesFEAR! for the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, had this to say about the fright-level: "I think ShakesFear has a few really scary moments along the tour. Part of the fear factor comes from touring Ewing Manor in darkness, but Shakespeare was brilliant at creating terrifying situations, images and characters. From gruesome abductions, horrifying death scenes, and even the appearance of ghosts, Shakespeare never shied away from fear."

If this sounds like just your cup of malmsey*, you have two "family-focused" options on October 23, 24 or 25. Option No. 1 is the Haunted Tour, a 30-minute guided your of the "Haunted Grounds" available for ages 10 and up for a mere $6. This includes entry into Juliet’s Enchanted Courtyard, the tamer choice for the young and weak of heart.

The Haunted Tour offers the Ghost of Will Shakespeare himself to introduce you to some of his scariest characters, which may or may not include the ones I listed above. Haunted Tours will start at 7 pm and keep going every 15 minutes till 9:45 pm. They will take 20 people per tour, which means you may want a reservations -- call 309-438-2535 -- if you have a group and you all want to go together or you want to be sure to get in at a specific time. Tickets will also be sold at the gate, but on a cash basis only. And remember, your $6 includes the Haunted Tour and Juliet's Enchanted Courtyard.

Speaking of Juliet’s Enchanted Courtyard... This option only costs a dollar. Yep. $1. For that, you get "Not-So-Scary" stories with Halloween shadow puppets presented by Michael Vetere of Illinois State University's Saturday Creative Drama Program and fun autumnal crafts. Treats like popcorn balls and hot chocolate will be on sale to supplement your enchanted experience. Tickets for Juliet's Enchanted Courtyard will be sold at the door. And remember -- one thin dollar is all you need.

*You'll want to stick with a cup of malmsey rather than a larger quantity like a half tun. Heed the tale of George, Duke of Clarence, who was rumored to have met his maker when drowned in a butt of malmsey. That's the way Shakespeare tells the tale, as well.

Thrills and Chills (and Assorted Fun Stuff) in October

Ah, October. So often you come with monsters and mayhem as your entertainment options. It may not be my cup of tea but it's just something you get used to when October arrives, kind of like pumpkin suddenly being all over everybody's food and beverages. Pumpkins, poltergeists, serial killers... Yeah, that's October.

So, yes, there is scary stuff on the menu this month, from the Art Theater Co-op's Scream + Shocktober Kickoff Party tonight to a Titanic-themed murder mystery dinner from CUTC in Champaign on the 18th and a Shakespeare-centric Halloween option called Shakesfear coming from the Illinois Shakespeare Festival on October 23, 24 and 25.

A Lie of the Mind, Sam Shepard's 1985 play about two severely dysfunctional families, domestic violence and the dangerous landscape of the human heart, is scary in its own right, if not for the same reasons as most Halloween fare. It also bears the distinction of inspiring my personal favorite among opening lines of my reviews. When I saw a University of Illinois production a very long time ago, I chose to open my review with "Sam Shepard plays are like eating dirt. They're gritty and real, but they don't taste very good."

This new Lie of the Mind started last night in the E. Melba Kirkpatrick Laboratory Theatre at Illinois Wesleyan University. Tom Quinn directs a cast that includes Nick Castellanos, Shen Yee Choong, Casey Cudmore, Steven Czajkowski, Alexa Eldridge, Forrest Loeffler, Debra Madans and Alec Sutton. If you're in the mood for some Shepard, you'll need to get to IWU's Lab Theatre before Sunday the 5th to see whether you think his plays really are like eating dirt.

On the not-necessarily-scary side, Heartland Theatre is currently accepting submissions in its annual 10-minute play contest. This year's theme is Class Reunion, the final deadline is February 1, 2015, and plays will be staged in June, 2015. And if you don't have a Class Reunion play handy, you have plenty of time to plot one out.

In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) opens at Illinois State University tomorrow night, running through October 11. This delightful, transformative play isn't scary at all, unless you are frightened by the idea of women owning their sexuality. David Ian Lee directs Ruhl's play with a cast headed up by second-year MFA candidates Natalie Blackman and Colin Lawrence. For more information, click here.

Also opening Thursday is Naomi Iizuka's Polaroid Stories, a version of Ovid's Metamorphoses with dead end street kids, junkies and hookers instead of nymphs and princes. Iizuka's poetry and sharp edges make Polaroid Stories feel current and jagged, raw and real. Lisa Gaye Dixon directs for Illinois Theatre in the Studio Theatre inside the University of Illinois Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, with performances October 2 to 12. You can check out the show's whole program here to see who's who and what's what with Polaroid Stories.

The relationship musical, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, with music by Jimmy Roberts and book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro, comes to Bloomington-Normal again via Prairie Fire Theatre October 3 through 11 at the Fellowship Hall of the First Christian Church in Bloomington. Click here for info.

The Art is taking its Shocktober thing seriously, offering Poltergeist on the 3rd, Psycho on the 8th, Re-Animator on the 10th, The Lost Boys on the 15th, The Exorcist on the 19th, Candyman on the 22nd, and an all-night horror marathon (featuring Halloween and Trick 'r Treat) on the 24th. That's a whole lot of fright! And in the case of Psycho, at least, a very good movie. Check out the Art's website for all the Shocktober details.

Your Normal LGBT Film Festival comes back to the Normal Theatre October 15 to 19, with a wide array of films and extras. There's The New Black on the 15th, followed by a discussion with Karess Taylor-Hughes, an activist who appears in the film; Lilting, followed by a social event at Medici's across the street, on the 16th; To Be Takei, about Star Trek actor and internet sensation George Takei, on Friday the 17th; Appropriate Behavior, with an after-party at University Galleries, on the 18th; and The Way He Looks, followed by a panel discussion on anti-bullying, wrapping up the festival on the 19th. Each of these films has a different take on today's LGBT experience, from Brooklyn to Brazil, from a Cambodian mother in London to a Japanese-American son in Hollywood and a black community in Maryland.

ShakesFear is what the Illinois Shakespeare Festival is calling its version of a haunted house. They'll have local actors portraying the ghost of Shakespeare and a host of his scariest characters in a Haunted Tour at Ewing Cultural Center or a milder choice called Juliet's Enchanted Courtyard for the fainter-of-heart (and the kiddies). Juliet's Courtyard will feature "Not-So-Scary" stories accompanied by Halloween shadow puppets, some hands-on fun with "autumn crafts" and Halloween tattoos that glow in the dark, and Halloweenie treats for sale in case you need a snack. The Haunted Tour is a half-hour experience led by the Ghost of the Bard. I'm guessing you might see a few witches, Mr. or Mrs. Macbeth, Hamlet's dad returned from the Great Beyond with revenge on his mind, Richard III and the parade of his victims, maybe even Iago or Tamora, Queen of the Goths. Something wicked this way comes... Juliet's Enchanted Courtyard costs one thin dollar, while the Haunted Tour is offered for $6. You can see the flyer for ShakesFear here.

ISU's School of Theatre and Dance offers another October option, this one the Pulitzer-Prize winning Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegria Hudes, directed by third-year MFA directing candidate Leah Cassella. Water by the Spoonful is the second of three Elliot plays written by Hudes, all three dealing with a soldier who has returned from Iraq and is trying to survive civilian life. Ronald Roman will play Elliot in this Spoonful, with Joey Banks, Eddie Curley, Anastasia Ferguson, Lauren Pfeiffer, Jaimie Taylor and Hananiah Wiggins as parts of his rag-tag network. Water by the Spoonful opens in Westhoff Theatre October 23, with performances through November 1.

And that's just the tip of the entertainment iceberg for October. Stay tuned for more creatures, goblins and ghouls as the month moves on.