Gamut Theatre Presents THE MONSTER MASH-UP

Gamut Theatre's Stage Door Series and TMI are opening their joint production of The Monster Mash-Up: A Hybrid of Humor and Horror. The Monster Mashup runs October 4-6 and 11-13 with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. All tickets for Stage Door Series productions are BYOP (bring your own price), where any size donation at the door buys your ticket. For more information visit gamuttheatre.org or call the box office at (717) 238-4111.

Join members of Gamut's Stage Door Ensemble and TMI comedy improv troupe as they expertly weave the classic tales The Monkey's Paw and The Lottery with original, improvised stories inspired by your favorite scary stories and audience suggestions! No two performances will be the same. Funny. Frightening. And just in time for Halloween.

The Monster Mash-Up is comprised of two classic stories, as well as short improvised performances based on audience suggestions. Each of the classic tales, The Monkeys Paw and The Lottery, are produced by a different casts and directors.

The Monkeys Paw focuses on greed and desire. The director, Jeff Luttermoser, commented on that point "...it amplifies the message that nothing is actually free. Whether the cost of something is monetary or otherwise, you can't actually gain anything without spending something else." The story and its themes are still timely and resonate with people today. "The idea that we could be careful about what we wish for is cross-cultural, cross-generational, and virtually timeless" says Luttermoser.

In The Lottery the community participates in a pretty harsh tradition. Thomas Weaver, the production's director, believes that, "Traditions make communities stronger. They link us to the past in the hopes that we never forget our origins, for better or for worse." Now making a community stronger is not always better. "In some cases, a perversion of the notion of "tradition" provides an excuse for some to engage in violence and hate." says Weaver, which is what we see in this play.