• COME NIGHT FALL
  • By Kent Stephens
  • October 8th-24th, 2010
  • History Theatre at
  • Strawbery Banke Museum
  • ETHAN FROME
  • By Edith Wharton
  • adapted for stage
  • by Dennis Krausnick
  • Monday, October 18, 2010
  • Bold Face Play Reading at
  • Kittery Art Association
  • OR,
  • By Liz Duffy Adams
  • Monday, November 15, 2010
  • Bold Face Play Reading at
  • Kittery Art Association
  • THE RAGPICKERS DREAM
  • A holiday assortment of nostalgia and merriment
  • Monday, December 13, 2010
  • Bold Face Play Reading at
  • Kittery Art Association

COMING SOON

COME NIGHT FALL

by Kent Stephens
October 8th—24th, 2010
Strawbery Banke Museum Portsmouth, NH
Box Office: Tickets will go on sale September 1st


COME NIGHT FALL, running October 8th to 24th, is the third History Theatre @ Strawbery Banke Museum collaboration. Written and directed by Harbor Light Stage’s Kent Stephens (also the playwright of PIRATES OR PATRIOTS? and LAMPLIGHT DIALOGUES), the pre-Halloween production is described as a “contemporary psychological thriller in the Gothic tradition— which means that a haunting, long-hidden secrets, and exquisite chills may all be in store.”

COME NIGHT FALL is unique among this series of history theatre collaborations, in that it is the first to explore the pre-Revolutionary history of Portsmouth. This is a period that demands as much speculation as research, since documentation from these years is so scant, particularly about women and slaves. It is also the first to be staged in a single property: the Chase House, the most spacious historic property on the museum grounds. From scene to scene, the play will promenade through that property, becoming in effect a three-dimensional mystery story with the audience traveling through both time and space. And, it will be the first to feature an original musical score, composed for violin.

The premise of the story is based in the present. A fact not widely known, though common in living history museums like Colonial Williamsburg, is that many historic properties at Strawbery Banke have tenanted apartments, most on upper floors. After dark, the museum empties out as day visitors depart, and apartment lessees are left alone in the properties with the ghosts of the past. COME NIGHT FALL concerns a young museum guide and historian, Caitlin, renting an apartment on the third floor of the Chase House, who becomes convinced that a real ghost is haunting the property. At the same time, her friend Jay, an archeologist excavating the former privy on the building site, has discovered an unusual relic. Their quest to solve both mysteries takes them on a journey into the late 1760s, where they open a window into a shadowy chapter of colonial history and unearth a surprising, moving story.

The play builds on many features that have made History Theatre @ Strawbery Banke Museum such a success with both critics and audiences: creative scripting based on detailed research, impeccable and historically faithful costuming, and the finest actors in the region. And, as in the two previous productions, Stephens continues to explore the essential relationship between objectivity and subjectivity in the writing of history.

Please visit our online Box Office for the full schedule of performances. Tickets will go on sale through the Strawbery Banke Museum website, www.strawberybanke.org, in September.

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