Justin Sayre (Photo: Matthew Dean Stewart)
Are you a fan of Dark Shadows with a queer twist? Cabaret comedian Justin Sayre returns to Joe’s Pub with the latest installments of his camp-horror-soap-opera Ravenswood Manor.
Ravenswood Manor will be presented episodically with episodes 7 through 9 on Saturday, April 27, and episodes 10 through 12 on Sunday, April 28. Both evenings star Jenn Harris (Silence the Musical, New York is Dead), Jeff Hiller (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, “Nightcap”), Rob Maitner (59E59, 54 Below), Aaron Jackson (Comedy Central’s “The Opposition”), and Nicole Spiezio (Ars Nova, “Housewife Sonata”), with additional casting to be announced. Ravenswood Manor is directed by Ellie Heyman with music by Henry Koperski.
Taking a cue from television shows like “Dark Shadows,” Ravenswood Manor brings us back to the small New England town of Ravenswood, where frightening and unusual things are happening with more and more frequency.
The movie-star, Bettina Doors, has returned to her childhood home, under mysterious circumstances and a veil. There’s a werewolf on the loose and rumblings in the seedy homosexual underground, all while the country gets ready to elect a new president in the summer of 1979. Who knows what will happen in this small American town on the brink of disaster. The first installment covered the first six episodes of the show, and now we return with the final six of Season One. All will be revealed and recapped (don’t worry)!
“It’s a Camp-tastic romp!” says Sayre. “I wanted to write something scary and campy. I was obsessed with the melodrama of ‘Dark Shadows’ and wanted to try to work in the form.” Sayre will be playing Bettina Doors and hopes to see the show moving forward to play with gender roles. “My original concept for the show was double-casting with each actor playing both a male and a female role. But this time in New York, I wanted to get as many of my friends involved as possible.”
Ravenswood Manor
Joe’s Pub
425 Lafayette Street, NYC
April 27-28
