MadLab Stages THE AIR LOOM by Jim Azelvandre, Now thru 11/9

The Air Loom, written and directed by Jim Azelvandre will play the MadLab Theatre, 227 N. 3rd St., tonight, October 24 through November 9, 2013.

A country teeters on the brink of war. While most pray for peace, there are those who just want to watch the world burn. They have a goal, they have a plan, and they have a machine. The Air Loom. One man stands in their way. A comic drama of mind control, madness and mass extinction.

CAST:

Dr. H - Julia Ferreri
Tilly - Travis Horseman
Bill the King - Stephen Woosley
Mag the Schoolmistress - Mary Sink
Sir Archy - Mary Beth Griffith
The Glove Woman - Courtney Deuser
Charlotte - Jennie Price

Jim Azelvandre, MadLab's Producing Director and one of its best on stage performers, is the mind behind the madness of The Air Loom. He has had several of his short plays performed as part of Theatre Roulette including Fugue, Mr. Jones Has A Day, and The Apple. He has also written plays for their 3in30 series as well as many of their 24 and 48 specialty shows. The Air Loom is his first full length performed at MadLab since 2006's Objet d'Art.

This play is very loosely based on the case of James Tilly Matthews, a London tea broker and political "double agent" who was committed to the Bethlem (Bedlam) psychiatric hospital in 1797, and is considered to be the first fully documented case of paranoid schizophrenia. Matthews believed that a gang of criminals and spies skilled in pneumatic chemistry were tormenting him by means of rays emitted by a machine called the "Air Loom", which he described and drew in precise detail:

Andy Batt, MadLab Artistic Director: "First and foremost, any time we get the opportunity to produce a play by one of our own, we want to jump at the chance. Beyond that, it is an interesting, fantastical play in just the type of style that the MadLab audience has become accustomed to seeing. It has great characters with unique voices. It has an intriguing story that keeps you thinking throughout the play. And, it has the kind guts and heart that every good piece of theatre should have."

Showtimes: 8 p.m., Thursday October 24, Friday October 25, and Saturday October 26, Friday November 1 and Saturday November 2, Friday November 8 and Saturday November 9.

Tickets: $12, $10 for students and senior citizens, $8 for MadLab members http://www.madlab.net/MadLab/Buy_Tickets.html. Contact: 614-221-5418, www.madlab.net.