The Muse Collective to Present Peter Gray's SALEM: POST MORTEM

Michael Alvarez, Artistic Director of The Muse Collective, has announced its inaugural presentation of Peter Gray's poetic new play, Salem: Post-Mortem. Directed by Alvarez, Salem: Post-Mortem will stream on the company's website from Thursday, October 29th through Thursday, November 12th starting at 7 pm Eastern Standard Time. It is free to watch and can be accessed at www.the-muse-collective.com with donations going to raise money for the Audre Lorde Project.

In Salem: Post Mortem the witches of Salem awaken once more--this time in the afterlife-- to seek resolution of their unfinished stories and confront the fear which left their town in tatters. When the veneer of Puritan decorum falls away, old voices scramble to regain their status and new voices awaken power they never touched on earth. "It's a play about moving forward into an unknowable landscape, individually, but, ultimately, collectively," says Gray. "In our current world, we all have to reconsider how we draw our communities, what responsibilities we owe those communities, and what we owe ourselves. Salem: Post-Mortem faces those daunting questions with a lot of heart and a lot of fun."

Originally written for a cast of 6 that doubles, this virtual presentation features an international cast of 16 actors, all of whom also act as their own film crew. The cast and company are composed of actors from Broadway, film, television, and recent graduates. The cast includes LaurenSage Browning, Alicia Crowder, Lisa Dring, Yetta Gottesman, Deb Hiett, Lizzie Kehoe, Katie Mack, Roger Q. Mason, Anthony Michael Martinez, Pooya Mohseni, Sam Morales, Matthew Russell, Felicia Santiago, Leigha Sinnott, Charlie Thurston, and Carolina Vargas. With Art Direction by Princess Grace Award-winning designer, Salmah Beydoun, Costume Design by Phoung Nguyen, Sound Design by John Millerd, Movement Direction by Mara Driscoll, and Line Produced by Jared Tyrel Pixler.

SALEM: POST MORTEM

By: Peter Gray

Available for streaming: Thursday, October 29th at 7:00 pm EST

Closing: Thursday, November 12th (midnight) EST

TICKETS AND ACCESS

www.the-muse-collective.com

No cost but donations are being accepted to benefit the Audre Lorde Project.

ABOUT THE MUSE COLLECTIVE

The Muse Collective was created by Michael Alvarez in 2020 as an umbrella for collaboration and theatrical investigation. Their philosophy is to create art in an attempt to see beyond the veil of waking life, excavating the invisible worlds of our mind, heart, soul, and shared humanity. Alvarez says, " As artists, we are tasked with dreaming of a better tomorrow. Through art, we explore what that tomorrow could be, chart paths forward, and dismantle the broken systems which deplete us. We are called to question, experiment, challenge, transform, and rebuild." The Muse Collective is dedicated to a life-long process of listening, learning, and growing.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Michael Alvarez (Artistic Director, The Muse Collective) is an international, and interdisciplinary, Latinx theatre director. He has been a Directing Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop, a Drama League Directing Fellow, and a Director with The Civilians R&D Group. He has directed in New York, London, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Eastern Europe, and at such institutions as Her Majesty's Theatre in the West End, Arcola Theatre, Institute of Contemporary Arts, and made performance art pieces at the British Museum. Member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab. Education: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and California Institute of the Arts. www.Michael-Alvarez.com

Peter Gray (Writer, Salem: Post Mortem) has studied Buddhism on a North Carolina goat farm, philosophy in the ruins of Socrates' jail cell, and fairy tales in Copenhagen. He was a 2019 MacDowell Fellow, developing a series of modern-day closet dramas designed to be read aloud at home and a 2020 Monson Arts Fellow. With director Michael Alvarez, he has developed a theatrical exploration of the Medea myth called Love, Medea, which received a reading at the New York Theatre Workshop and was performed in the historic West Park Presbyterian Church. He is an upcoming Fellow at Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany.

THE AUDRE LORDE PROJECT

About The Audre Lorde Project: The Audre Lorde Project (ALP) is a Community Organizing Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two-Spirit, Trans and Gender Non-Conforming (LGBTSTGNC) People of Color Communities. Initiated as an organizing effort by a coalition of LGBTSTGNC People of Color, The Audre Lorde Project was first brought together by Advocates for Gay Men of Color (a multi-racial network of gay men of color HIV policy advocates) in 1994. The vision for ALP grew out of the expressed need for innovative and unified community strategies to address the multiple issues impacting LGBTSTGNC People of Color communities. More information is available at alp.org.

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