Sneak Peak of The Mystery Plays: Falcon Theatre
Mystery. Coincidence. Belief without understanding.
These are some of the concepts explored in The Mystery Plays, which opens Nov. 6 at Falcon Theatre in Newport.
Six actors play more than 20 characters in the two interconnected one-acts, written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and directed by Lindsey Augusta Mercer.
In the first, The Filmmaker“™s Mystery, a horror film director survives a terrible train wreck ““ only to be haunted by the ghost of a passenger who did not survive.
The second play, Ghost Children, follows a woman revisiting her childhood home to make peace with her older brother ““ who brutally murdered her parents and sister years earlier.
“œThese plays explore concepts that live below the surface of comprehension,“ said director Mercer. “œThere are coincidences that can“™t be explained, and there are reasons why things happen to us and how we deal with them.“
On an even deeper level, Mercer said the plays deal with the “œunexplainable cosmic power of the universe, mostly referred to as God, but on a greater spectrum than Christianity, including spirituality and the connection with others and ourselves.“
“œThe plays are about humanity and how it is defined by our relationship to that universal power,“ Mercer said.
But ““ the audience can also expect to laugh in the midst of these tragic stories and weighty ideas.
“œThere is humor,“ Mercer said. “œHumanity is often very comical, sometimes at our own expense.“
The Mystery Plays was first produced in New York in 2003 and won playwright Aguirre-Sacasa a writing award from the Kennedy Center. He has written several other plays, along with comic books and television shows.
Mercer who has a degree in theater history and music from Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio, moved to Cincinnati just two years ago,. She has already directed three plays: The Little Dog Laughed at New Edgecliff, Death and the Maiden for Diogenes, and Cincinnati Shakespeare“™s summer park tour of Midsummer Night“™s Dream.
The Mystery Plays is at Falcon Nov. 6-7, Nov. 12-14, and Nov. 19-21. Call 513-479-6783 or buy tickets online at www.falcontheatre.net
