REMINDER: FREE performances of Happenstance Theater’s CABARET MACABRE, November 20-21, 8:00 PM, Bruce Davis Theater

Submitted by Mark Rhoda Visiting Associate Professor of Theater, Film, and Media Studies
November 17, 2019 - 8:53 am
Image of group of people in dark Victorian costume

Happenstance Theater is a six-member, Rockville, MD-based performance troupe steeped in the traditions of Italian commedia dell’arte (a popular street comedy of the 16th-18th centuries), clowning, circus, and vaudeville. The company is a multiple Helen Hayes award-winning ensemble hailed by the Washington, D.C. press for its superb improvisatory skills, physical humor, and, above all, spontaneous interactions with the audience.

“Cabaret Macabre” takes its inspiration from the pen-and-ink illustrations of Edward Gorey, the Victorian nightmares his macabre narrative works evoke, “dangerous croquet, Gothic romance, afternoon tea, and perils of the deep.” The show captures Happenstance’s witty and visual theatrical collage that is the stamp of their work.

In 2014, “Cabaret Macabre” was nominated for three local D.C. “Tony Awards,” the Helen Hayes, for Outstanding Costume Design, Resident Production (Sabrina Mandell, co-artistic director of the company); Outstanding Movement, Resident Play; and The Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play or Musical.

Performances of "Cabaret Macabre" are FREE and open to the public.

Due to limited seating, RESERVATIONS REQUIRED.

TO MAKE RESERVATIONS, contact the Theater Box Office @ boxoffice@smcm.edu. Tickets must be picked up no later than 7:45 p.m. the evening of the performance you plan to attend; otherwise, unclaimed tickets will be released by Box Office staff.

The residency of Happenstance Theater is made possible in part by generous support from Lecture and Fine Arts and Arts Alliance of St. Mary’s College.