PHANTASMAGORIA to Have Staged Reading at The Tank

PHANTASMAGORIA, written by Jack Horton Gilbert and directed by Tom Costello will premier at The Tank on Monday, February 12th. The scary new play will be featured as part of The Tank's Moonlight Series, showcasing new and spooky work not for the faint of heart.

"Horror holds an odd place in theater" says playwright Jack Horton Gilbert. "The genre has a long and storied history in film and literature but in on the stage it's mostly niche. Plenty of shows have horrific moments to them but really since Grand Guignol it's occupied an odd, little corner of the theatrical realm. This has always confused me. Sitting in a dark room surrounded by strangers, listening to ghost stories has always seemed like a prime choice. Anything can happen; and yet I've seen very few plays that've truly scared me."

Gilbert is a New York based, Ohio born playwright whose writing focuses on the absurd, the magical, the human, and the spaces between.

"I'd like to expand the conversation about what horror can do and how it can function on stage. I'm curious where modern voices can carry it and what horror can add to the conversations we're having. Mostly though I just want to be scared."

Tom Costello is a freelance director in New York City. He was the Associate Director on the 2022 Broadway production of American Buffalo. He directed the NYT Critic's Pick world premiere of Smoke by Kim Davies at the Flea where he was an Associate Artist. With John Early he co-directed The Witchelor, co-written by Early and Nicole Spiezio at Atlantic Stage 2. He was the Associate Artistic Director for Pipeline Theater Company where he directed many readings and workshops as well as co-directed Corpse Backpack. He was a 2017 Drama League Directing Fellow in his hometown of Ithaca, NY where he directed Olivia Dufault's The Messenger and Christopher Parks' Aesop's Fables. He is the Artistic Director of NYU Productions for Atlantic Acting School where is also a faculty member and frequent director. Member of Ensemble Studio Theater.

The play tells the story of a cursed town. People go missing; disappearing in the night. No one knows where, or why, they go; and it's starting again. Isha's figured out a way to make it all stop though. An old book and a ritual that'll make it so her and her friends never have to be afraid of the dark. But things don't go according to plan; worse still, whatever's out there taking kids has noticed what they're trying to do. Will they survive the night? Or will they wind up like all the others?

The production stars Sarina Freda (Watch Me, Little Women) as FERN, Maya Shoham (Best Friends, The Ultimate Manic Pixie Dream Girl Speed-Dating Competition) as ISHA, James Ao (The Winter's Tale, The Bacchae) as MARTY, Alex Hazen Floyd (Peacock's Girls 5eva, CBS's Blue Bloods) as MAZ, Tudor Postolache (The Winter's Tale, Summertime) as OTHO and Paige Bakke (The Winter's Tale, Gruesome Playground Injuries) as PIN.

The production features sound design and original music by Brandon Bulls, lighting design by Jonathan Cottle and fight coordination by Alex Gould. The stage manager is Ellen Mischinski and the assistant stage manager/assistant director is Celeste von der Schulenburg.

February 12th, 9:30pm, at The Tank (312 W 36th St., New York)

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