Written and Directed by Gabriel Garcia, Shadow Tales for a Darkened Theater was presented by Blank Slate Productions. The show was a ghost story anthology told in six parts using shadow puppetry, pantomime, dance movement and ensemble story telling. The shadow puppetry occurred in three frames at house right which were back lit. The dark silhouettes of birds, branches and a chandelier didn’t really help progress the plot of the stories told but the added to the mysterious mood. My job of completing a sketch of course was exacerbated by the fact that the theater was indeed black for the full duration of the show. I used the faint glow of my iPhone to illuminate the page.
In one tale a woman sold her soul to the devil so that she could become the worlds best Flamenco dancer. She danced with absolute passion and abandon until she feet bleed. She only discovered too late that she already had this talent and if she believed in herself she would not have needed to sell her soul. A young couple deeply in love were torn apart when the wife died, leaving her partner destitute. In one story a mysterious man had his face obscured by a hood.
One man who was hyper sensitive became overwhelmed by everyday life. People he passes in the street he believed were talking about him. He was convinced everyone was conspiring against him. It seemed his greatest fears were true because he so firmly believed in them. The Man in Gray (Kyle Meehan) acted as the host and narrator who dared the audience to look into the recesses of their own life to see if they could find any hope in these tales of loss and madness. Try not to hold on to your fantasies especially when they prove to be harmful.