Monster in the Dark
by Doug Dorst
Directed by: Ben Yalom
Created by: Doug Dorst the foolsFURY Ensemble
Produced by: Angela Santillo
Location: Ashby Stage (Berkeley), Counter Pulse
FoolsFURY’s first fully company-created play, Monster is a collaboration with playwright and novelist Doug Dorst.
A deeply disturbing, sometimes hilarious riff on the fears we all grapple with in our anxiety-laden society, it examines fears of the unknown as well as fears of the oppressively accepted, and the stories we tell to alleviate those fears. It shows us about a community at once engagingly foreign and disturbingly familiar, one shaped by three intense forces that have become so interwoven that it is hard to know where one ends and the next begins: a powerful, invasive government (The Structure), a state-endorsed fundamentalist religion (The Makersellers), and the world of commerce (The Stuff-Thrusters). The lives of these characters – their professional interactions, love affairs, and mysterious meetings – are restricted and pressurized by these forces. When the world is tipped off its axis by an impending apocalyptic flood, we witness how these relationships change, and what they can withstand.
“A linguistically and visually sumptuous allegory of excesses very much present in present-day society.”
—East Bay Express
”‘Monster’ is Masterful…passionate performances in creative future world production.”
—San Francisco Examiner
Cast
Deborah Eliezer
Blythe Foster
Jessica Kitchens
Peter Ruocco
Ryan Tasker
Beth Wilmurt
Design & Production
Soundscape: Patrick Kaliski
Costume Design: Kaibrina Sky Buck and Ambra Sultzbaugh
Lighting Design: Cameron Mock
Scenic Design: Ben Sherris
Movement Consultant: Lee Eisler
Stage Management: Amanda Melton and Tanya Telson