Ahoy, you scurvy lot!
We’re full speed ahead toward Opening Night of the World Premiere of Strange Cargo: The Doom of the Demeter at City Lit Theatre, this Saturday, 10/18/2025! In spreading the word, I got a chance to chat with Dean Richards at Chicago’s WGN Radio on Sunday 10/12! You can hear the interview RIGHT HERE (starting at 1:01 and running to 1:09). Dig it! And get your tix fast – presales are hopping!
BE THERE OR BE ABSENT!
Ahoy, you lot!
It is with great joy and excitement that I direct you to the official cast announcement of the World Premiere of STRANGE CARGO: The Doom of the Demeter, playing this fall at City Lit Theatre!
BE THERE OR BE ABSENT!
Hey you lot! I can now officially announce that my new play, STRANGE CARGO: The Doom of the Demeter will World Premiere this fall as part of City Lit Theater’s 45th Season in Chicago, Illinois!
Based on Chapter Seven of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, this gothic horror high seas adventure tells the shocking events aboard the cargo ship transporting Count Dracula’s belongings from Transylvania to England. Suspicion, paranoia, and madness infect the crew as the harried sailors disappear one by one. Full of creeping mystery, vibrant language, rich characters, sinister vanishings, violent sea storms, swashbuckling action, monstrous puppetry, and, of course, a boatload of terrors, this is the Dracula tale you’ve never seen.
Here’s the link to the lit to the City Lit page: https://www.citylit.org/ A co-production with Black Button Eyes Productions, the play will be directed by the amazing Ed Rutherford and Sound Designed by my criminally talented brother Joe Griffin! Watch this space for ticket info!
BE THERE OR BE ABSENT!
Happy October!
To celebrate the Halloween season, here’s a blast from the past, a wistful look back on a little thing I wrote for Wildclaw Theatre’s late lamented Deathscribe Horror Radio Play Competition. This live performance was at Lincoln Hall in Chicago, IL, December of 2016, and features actors Darren Hill, Lee Brophy, and David Fink, Foley Team Ele Matelan and Kevin Alves, and was directed by Aileen McGroddy.
Also, If you’d like to see it (or, rather, listen to it) audio-only, like a proper radio show, you can do so here.
Enjoy!
Hey Gang,
The mighty mighty Monstrous Books is coming out with another exciting short story collection, “Shakespeare Unleashed” – all horror stories based on Shakespeare plays! I submitted a sonnet to them, a nasty little piece based on Richard III. While they didn’t choose it for their collection, I thought I might post it here for your enjoyment.
The sonnet tells the fates of Richard’s young nephews – whom he arranged to be murdered so as to clear his path to the throne. Told from the point of view of the younger prince, the sonnet’s closing couplet reveals the boys’ ghosts tormenting Richard on the eve of the battle at Bosworth Field.
I hope you dig it! I had a lot of fun writing it, and it might spawn more Shakespeare Horror stories or sonnets that I post here – watch this space!
So, here’s a little bit of chilling verse for you called…
To Worry Lambs and Lap Their Gentle Blood
by Timothy Griffin
My brother Edward’s twelve; I, only nine;
Yet no more years shall either of us gain;
White, wriggling worms anon on us shall dine.
Our killers’ tears imply ‘twill be some pain.
“Condemn us not; we two are merely pawns,”
Implores the villain pinning Edward down.
“We must deprive thee both of further dawns,
For thou standst ‘twixt thine Uncle and the crown.”
Then Edward lieth still, in murdered sleep.
My knave doth blench, beseeches me for grace,
Then blubbers sobs; he hath the gall to weep
As he doth press the pillow to my face.
Now shades, we stare with bleak, transparent eyes.
At ‘G’ we glare, and shriek – “DESPAIR AND DIE!”
© Timothy Griffin 2022
Leave a comment below & spread the word!
I’m back performing in Jekyll & Hyde with the Idle Muse Theater Company – here’s the juice:
What: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Where: The Edge Off-Broadway Theater in the Edgewater neighborhood: 1133 W Catalpa Ave, Chicago, IL 60640 (1 block south of Bryn Mawr & Broadway)
When: Previews: September 22 & 23, 2022, 8pm
Opening: September 24, 2022, 8pm
Performance Run: September 24 – October 23, 2022 (Thur-Sat 8pm, Sundays 3pm)
Tix on sale: http://www.idlemuse.org/ (Click “Tickets” at the top of the page).
I’m pretty sure the theater will require masks – and, possibly, proof of vaccination, so snap a pic of your vax card.
Hope to see you there!
EDIT 03/22/2020:
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the March 30th production of Deathscribe has been cancelled. I wish you all health and safety. –TimmyG
I’m thrilled to announce that one of my stories has been chosen as a finalist in DEATHSCRIBE, Wildclaw Theater’s annual Horror Radio play competition – for the FOURTH time! (see info about my previous Deathscribe finalist shows here, here, and here.)
Here, Have a Nightmare will be performed live at DEATHSCRIBE XII (that’s twelve) on Monday, March 30, 2020, at the Den Theater, 1333 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, at 8 o’clock in the P.M. Tickety info can be found at Wildclaw’s website.
BE THERE OR BE ABSENT
Update 02/03/2020: you can hear the performance of “Subject #9” here.
My play, “Subject #9,” has been chosen for this year’s Deathscribe plays festival.
Directed by Elizabeth Lovelady and featuring Moira Begale, Elisabeth Del Toro, Dave Skvarla, and Joseff Stevenson, it’s in contention for the Bloody Axe award. I’m thrilled to be part of this annual Chicago theatre tradition once again.
My short play, “Imaginary Fiend,” is an official selection of the 2017 HEAR Now Audio Fiction and Arts Festival in Kansas City, MO. The recording of the piece is from a live performance at Wildclaw Theatre‘s 2015 Deathscribe* short plays festival and was directed by Elly Green.
Thanks to Wildclaw and the HEAR Now Festival!
* Writers: the submission window for Deathscribe 2017 is open until July 31!
This past weekend I attended a production of my full-length horror/comic play “Deadworry” at East Alton-Wood River Community High School near St. Louis. Congrats and many thanks to the cast and crew!
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