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Main Street Stage Hosts 'Phantasmagoria!'By Jen Thomas - October 26, 2007
NORTH ADAMS - With Halloween only a few days away, the group of volunteers at the Main Street Stage are already getting into character.
Starting Friday, Oct. 26, the nonprofit community theater will begin its series of Halloween-inspired events, collectively called "Phantasmagoria!" Beginning with a performance of "The Mystery of Irma Vep" by Charles Ludlam, the board of directors at the Main Street Stage have a host of activities planned to fill the cold autumn Berkshire nights with creepy fun.
Opening weekend for "Irma Vep" will double as a fundraiser and party for patrons, featuring spooky hors d'oeuvres, wine, dessert and door prizes provided by North Adams Cinema, Mill City Productions, Drury Drama Team and Where'd You Get That?
"Halloween is a really fun time and we wanted to do something that younger and older people could enjoy," said Alexia Trainor, executive director of Main Street Stage. "We really wanted to involve the community."
Student Contest
As part of the outreach, Main Street Stage paired up with Inkberry, a local writers' resource organization, to host "Writers (Cell) Block," a scary-story writing contest for Conte Middle School students. Two winners were selected to have their stories read by professional actors on Sunday night.
Jaslynn Hall-Rodriguez and Morgan Michaels, both sixth-graders at Conte Middle School, took home first and second-place prizes in the "Writers (Cell) Block" scary story contest. |
Sixth-graders Morgan Michaels and Jaslynn Hall-Rodriguez were named the first- and second-place winners last week by a panel of judges that included Trainor, board member Kelli Newby and Inkberry's board President Linda White.
According to Newby, the quality of the submissions made coming to a final decision very difficult but, in the end, it was the two 11-year-olds that impressed the judges the most.
Michaels' tale about an unsettled insane ghost who haunts a college campus on Halloween won her the grand prize and got her a chance to hear her masterpiece read along with renditions of Edgar Allen Poe classics at the Sunday performance.
"It'll probably sound cooler if someone else reads it," said Michaels.
Though both girls said they had trouble coming up with an idea for their stories, it took weeks before the projects were complete.
"It took a week to get started and about a week to type it up," said Hall-Rodriguez.
In operation for nearly 10 years, Main Street Stage is hoping to make itself more of a presence in the downtown and reaching out to middle-schoolers is just the beginning.
"This month, we really wanted to push making the community aware of us and 'Phantasmagoria!' is a great way to reach out to the community," said Newby.
With a couple of days of hard work still ahead of them, Main Street Stage members are already looking to next year.
"We could do this as an annual event, make it a tradition," said Trainor.
'Phantasmagoria!' already has at least one fan.
"It's fun that they're doing this. Most of us hadn't heard of Main Street Stage before. It gets us interested in what's going on in town," said Michaels.
"The Mystery of Irma Vep," starring sisters Alexia Trainor and Justina Trova, opens on Friday, Oct. 26, and runs for three weekends. For more information and reservations, call Main Street Stage at 663-3240. |
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