30 Days Of NYMF: Day 22 OPEN THE DARK DOOR

Something Rotten in the City of Mortland
from
Open The Dark Door
By Patrice Miller

What do hot dogs, an Irish nun and a tattooed freak have in common? Aside from the start of a sick joke (punch line to follow at the opening night party), all of these things find a special home in the city of Mortland, David Lefort Nugent's fictional town in the heart of America. Nugent's Open the Dark Door comes to the New York Musical Theater Festival this year as a Next Link Series show after a successful workshop at Stratford in 2008. But Open the Dark Door (really) isn't your typical musical - in fact there's little typical in it.
Picture, if you will, a quiet little town. The butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker bustle about. A light breeze blows leaves through the streets until they gather at the doorstep of - the death house. You begin to listen to the voices in the town around you, the school teacher's gossip about the latest ... execution. You slowly realize that something is a little different in the city of Mortland ...
Enter Skip, the son of the local executioner, who is about to experience his first love - with the daughter of a tattooed freak. They come seeking the full story on the most recent execution; of the butcher, ironically enough. In a ghost story meets black humor meets political satire, the story of Mortland, its death house and its amazing hot dogs unfurls in the heart of America.
Think you have this figured out? Think again.
While Open the Dark Door is certainly not for the faint of heart - or stomach - there's more than meets your musical theatered eyes. Wondering where the Irish nun fits in? And I didn't even mention the rock band yet. With music performed by the New York City-based band, The Middle Eight, Open the Dark Door is a show that invites you to meet the citizens the Mortland and hear their story - Irish nuns, tattooed freaks and musical theatre conventions included.