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scop (noun): Old English – bard, minstrel, storyteller

  • This Month at Prime Stage:
    Mystery Theatre & A Wrinkle in Time

    You are in a circular room with twelve locked doors. Each door is positioned like the hours of a clock and stenciled with an apparently random word or phrase. You have 12 keys, each labeled with a different code. Your task: decipher the codes, unlock the doors, and begin unraveling a mystery that must be…

  • Live Theatre: On Stage and In Your Home

    No doubt about it. We’re in the midst of a paradigm shift—a time for reconsidering old assumptions even as we hope for a so-called return to normal. Consider: the past two years have seen an explosion of teleconferences, delivery services, and online commerce. Mask wearing and physical distancing effectively canceled last year’s cold and flu…

  • Celebrating a Performance that was …
    “All part of the day’s work.”

    Ninety years ago this month, when James Whale’s Frankenstein was being made, “nobody recognized the importance of the film and the impact it would have on cinema history. It was just part of the day’s work, as far as my father was concerned.” That’s according to Sara Karloff, daughter of the man who created one…

  • More than a Monster:
    Karloff Reveals the Man behind the Icon

    Arrayed with costumes and memorabilia, the set of Karloff: The Man and the Monster presents a snapshot of the actor’s career. There’s a sheep’s wool vest from Son of Frankenstein, sarcophagus from The Mummy, gurney from The Bride of Frankenstein, wheelchair from the set of Targets. Behind it all, a projection screen displays the iconic…

  • Talking Frankenstein

    “You’re going to see and feel the essence of who this man was.”   – Director Art DeConciliis discussing Prime Stage’s upcoming production of Karloff: The Man and the Monster. In an earlier post, I mentioned how actor Boris Karloff—the man who gave us cinema’s iconic performance as the Frankenstein creature—worked for years as a…

  • A Trap Full of Monsters:
    Responses to Last Week’s Mystery

    “Well then, I suppose that leaves us no choice but to enter through the devil’s door.” — August LaFleur, “A Trap Full of Monsters,” Act I Since our previous episode of Prime Stage Mystery Theatre concluded with August LaFleur suggesting that the only way into the New Towne Theatre is through something he called a…