ON SET WITH THEDA BARA
Wandering in the desert. That desert. Dry and hot... wandering. My black mascara. A shawl over my head billowing in the desert heat. They didn't know where I came from. How I had survived in the Sahara for so long. No food. No water. It was--Supernatural.
Wandering in the desert. That desert. Dry and hot... wandering. My black mascara. A shawl over my head billowing in the desert heat. They didn't know where I came from. How I had survived in the Sahara for so long. No food. No water. It was--Supernatural.
In this hallucination of a one-person show, a genderqueer teen who goes missing and their gay detective father come face-to-face with the supernatural and consciousness-devouring Theda Bara, the vamp and silent film star of the late teens and early 1920’s. On Set with Theda Bara is a gothic coming-of-age story, a campy melodrama about identity-consumption and the horror of not knowing who you are.
Starring David Greenspan
Directed by Jack Serio
Frank J. Oliva (set), Stacey Derosier (lighting), Avery Reed (costumes), Brandon Bulls (sound), Ryan Kane (stage manager).
On Set with Theda Bara premiered at The Brick Theatre as part of the 2023 Exponential Festival of new plays in Brooklyn, New York. It was subsequently produced in an Off-Broadway engagement by Transport Group Theatre Company and Lucille Lortel Theatre at The Brick, February 6 - March 16, 2024.
Photo Credit: Emilio Madrid
“Haunting and refreshingly funny fever dream.” - Sara Holdren, Vulture
“Entirely fascinating! Greenspan gives a wild ride of a performance.” - Laura Collins-Hughes, NY Times
“Phantasmal essences shift in your peripheral vision, and a chill breath finds the back of your neck.” - Helen Shaw, The New Yorker
“The stories of Theda, Finale, Iras and Ulysses fused in a whirlwind of Merlo’s redolent language.” - Joel Benjamin, TheaterScene
“★★★★ -Joey Merlo's hour-long fun fantasy, directed to a jaunty fare-thee-well by Jack Serio” - David Finkle, NY Stage Review