Saturday, April 30, 2011

My first public story: "Frankenstory"

The first story I wrote for public consumption beyond my parents and coerced friends was a play.

The summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college, I combined my favorite elements of the novel
Frankenstein, the 1931 film of the same name, and a bit of Bride of Frankenstein, plus plenty of fully original material, into a full-length script. (My mom recalls hearing many a hot, late night the beep-beep my Smith-Corona word processor made for every word not in its dictionary—and the play included the word "Frankenstein" a lot.)

Like Frankenstein's "monster" itself, my story was a patchwork.


So I called it Frankenstory.



Nineteen years ago today, it debuted at Brandeis University. (Three days later, it closed. As planned.)

Meet the original 1992 cast:


Note: No actual conga scenes appeared in the play.

Frankenstein would not have said his monster was one of his greatest creations; its imperfections frustrated and then scared him so deeply that he spurned it.

My little play—which, all told, consumed a year of my lifehad plenty of imperfections, and trying to stage it was scary at times, but it will always remain among my top five most personal projects, no matter how many books I ultimately write.

And despite the review from the student newspaper. Smiley face.



11/6/19 addendum: watch the play (if you dare):

3 comments:

Jason B. said...

Hopefully, there will be more backstory on Frankenstory...

Daniel Ben-Zvi said...

Wow, tons of memories coming back.

David Weitzer said...

I have been traumatized by Stacy Lefkowitz's harsh review for 19 years.... that's right, 19 years of therapy and still, it just never gets any easier.....