Dark of the Moon

            Crimson Masque kicked off its 74^th season with the Howard Richardson/William Berney production Dark of the Moon. This supernatural American Folk Legend, set in the Smoky Mountains, tells the tale of the beautiful, but cursed, Barbara Allen. The story of her marriage to a witch boy and her eventual downfall are told through music and verse in a haunting way guaranteed to stir up the Halloween spirit.

        A cast of 30 actors and musicians combined their talents in that year’s entry into the American College Theatre Festival.  Dark of the Moon was first produced at Monmouth College in the fall of 1973 as part of a Program on Creativity which joined students, faculty, and members of the Monmouth Community.  Directed by Bil Pfuderer, a visiting professional actor-singer, the production featured several aspiring Monmouth residents. One of these, Genevieve Ball, will be making an encore performance in the upcoming production.

            The 1999 production, designed and directed by Doug Rankin, also featured talent from outside the campus. Playing Uncle Smelicue, was  Mike DiFuccia, director of the Buchanan Center for the Arts. DiFuccia earlier lent his talents to the college stage as the lead singer in Pump Boys and Dinettes. Other community members in the production were Travis Ingram and Macenzie Day, both students at Southern Junior High School. Daylene White, choreographer for Pump Boys, returned to arrange the ballet number, and Jennifer Anderson, staff costumer for Monmouth College, served as costume designer. 

            Dark of the Moon has a rich and interesting production history. Performers such as Paul Newman, Shelly Berman, Betsy Palmer and Marge Champion have held lead roles and the show has been performed around the world in every capital city. There is also superstition associated with the show; in the Broadway production, one of the actors died in the wings and another suffered a heart attack in the revival scene. A petition was circulated asking the Bible used in the show be replaced. On the night it was replaced by a copy of Gray’s Anatomy, the show’s closing notice was posted back stage.

            The Crimson Masque production of Dark of the Moon was presented October 28-31 in the Wells Theater.