New One-Act About Christopher Marlowe Premieres At Chain Theatre

Join Chain Theatre in the heart of midtown for a 'Mix-Tape' of short plays ranging from comedies, dramas, and new musicals in the heart of midtown Manhattan! Vaccination and masks required for all artists and audience members. Live-Streaming options also available.

Warm up this winter at the Chain Theatre Winter One Act Festival. There Be Monsters Here by Anthony P. Pennino will be part of the selected voices that make up this winter's festival of New York City based playwrights. PROGRAM #7 (February 6 at 8 pm, February 12 at 8 pm, February 19 at 5 pm, and February 22 at 6 pm) will be available in person with one special Live Streamed performance on February 12 and will be immediately followed by a talk back with the author and cast. Show your support for the arts and join an exciting selection of live performances created by the best independent artists at one of the top independent theatre venues in New York City.

There Be Monsters Here dramatizes a crucial moment in the life of Elizabethan Era playwright Christopher Marlowe (Karl Knapp) when his relationship with Thomas Walsingham (Michael Saunders), nephew of the Queen's spymaster, ends abruptly. A remarkable man in a remarkable time, Marlowe, because of his controversial religious views and sexual orientation, often found himself out-of-step in his own time. One of his few meaningful connections is lost when Thomas decides to enter into a conventional marriage.

"There is an elaborate conspiracy theory about how Marlowe was murdered worthy of the ones that grew up after the assassination of JFK," Pennino explained. "I thought it would make for a terrific play if those theories were given their day on stage. The man who killed Marlowe was Thomas Walsingham's servant. What we explore in this one-act is the inciting incident where as a result of what happens here Walsingham would order his former lover murdered." Marlowe is the author of such seminal Renaissance dramas as Dr. Faustus and Edward II.

Pennino is the author of such plays as Chokehold, Toby, and I, Horatio. He also wrote the critical work Staging the Past in the Age of Thatcher: "The History We Haven't Had" published by Palgrave Macmillan UK. He teaches literature and drama at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ. A graduate of The Neighborhood Playhouse, Knapp is a frequent collaborator with Pennino having performed in his plays both at The Chain and at Planet Connections. Saunders recently graduated from Farleigh Dickinson University and has appeared in a number of indie films. All three serve as co-directors.

TICKETS: https://www.chaintheatre.org/winter-one-act-festival-2022

Tickets are $15 in advance and $18 at the door. All audience members must show proof of vaccination for all in-person attendance. For Chain Theatre COVID protocols visit here: https://www.chaintheatre.org/covid-19-guidelines.