Race
Mindgame
By Anthony Horowitz, based on his novel by the same name
Directed by David M. Jenkins
Extended! Oct. 21 – Nov. 14, 2010
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm
Tickets: $24.50
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Jobsite unleashes another macabre Halloween treat in this three-person thriller.
"A truly gripping thriller [that] keeps you guessing and marveling from its deceptively normal opening to its fearful climax." – The Stage
True crime novelist Mark Styler is looking for his next subject. After "monster" success with his previous portrait of a notorious serial killer, he turns to Fairfields Institute for the Criminally Insane in rural England to obtain access to one of its notorious patients, a madman known as Easterman.
Click to enlarge
It's coming up on the 20th anniversary of Easterman's arrest and media interest in the case is reinvigorated. If Styler can just get past the strange, sometimes hostile behavior and reluctance of Dr. Farquhar, head of the asylum, he'd be off and running to the next leap in his career. Perhaps some answers reside with the head nurse of the asylum, Plimpton?
Soon, nothing can be trusted, not even Styler's own eyes. Through a series of lies, manipulations and memories, dark secrets are revealed and the questions just keep surfacing until the lights black out.
"Probes the terror of madness ... while exhibiting roguish love of the macabre." – London Evening Standard
Jobsite's annual Halloween offerings date back to 1999 and are often the company's most popular shows of any given season, consistently drawing record crowds and media attention. Mindgame was a riveting hit on London's West End and later Off-Broadway starring Keith Carradine (Dexter, Criminal Minds) and directed by Ken Russell (Tommy, Altered States, Lair of the White Worm).
Jobsite believes this will be yet another blockbuster for their favorite time of year. Director David M. Jenkins says, "Mindgame is very much inspired by the old Hammer Horror films of the 50's and 60's, but also draws in our current fascination with serial killers and asylums in everything from Dexter to Silence of the Lambs to Criminal Minds."
Warning
Mindgame is not for the easily frightened. This show contains moments of intense violence and many disturbing accounts of serial murder.
About the Artists
Click to enlarge
Mindgame stars Brian Shea (the multiple Best of the Bay Award winning actor last seen in American Stage's Santaland Diaries) as Farquhar, Jason Vaughan Evans (who, anecdotally, has appeared in every single Jobsite Halloween show) as Styler and Elizabeth Fendrick (whose return to the stage as Mrs. Gottleib in Dead Man's Cell Phone was lauded by critics) as Plimpton.
The show features direction and sound by David M. Jenkins, set and lights by Brian Smallheer and costumes by Katrina Stevenson. Jobsite just completed a successful Kickstarter fundraiser for scenic materials for Mindgame, which will be the most elaborate and costly the company has undertaken since their 2001 production of Dracula, which still ranks as the highest-grossing production in the history of not only Jobsite, but the space.
See more about the cast and crew.