THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP

By Charles Ludlam
Directed by Henry Wishcamper
July 31 - September 6, 2009
The Old Globe Arena Stage
at the Jame S. Copley Auditorium,
San Diego Museum of Art

Who is Irma Vep? That's the mystery at the heart of this outrageously funny tour-de-force. On a "dark and stormy night," Lady Enid arrives at an estate with her new husband, who is under the spell of his deceased first wife and haunted by something that’s prowling the grounds. Strange things begin to happen around her and she soon discovers the mystery of Irma Vep, whose portrait hangs over the fireplace. A hilarious comedy that satirizes everything from Hitchcock’s Rebecca and Victorian Melodrama to The Mummy's Curse. This Obie-winning gothic spoof was once the most-produced play in America and now it comes to uproarious, high-camp life on The Old Globe’s intimate arena stage.
Irma Vep 1 Irma Vep 2 Irma Vep 3
(l. to r.) John Cariani as "Lord Edgar Hillcrest" and Jeffrey M. Bender as “Lady Enid Hillcrest” in Charles Ludlam's gothic spoof, The Mystery of Irma Vep, at The Old Globe July 31 - Sept. 6, 2009. Photo by Craig Schwartz.
(l. to r.) John Cariani as "Lord Edgar Hillcrest" and Jeffrey M. Bender as “Alcazar” in Charles Ludlam's gothic spoof, The Mystery of Irma Vep, at The Old Globe July 31 - Sept. 6, 2009. Photo by Craig Schwartz.
(l. to r.) John Cariani as "Jane Twisden" and Jeffrey M. Bender as “Nicodemus” in Charles Ludlam's gothic spoof, The Mystery of Irma Vep, at The Old Globe July 31 - Sept. 6, 2009. Photo by Craig Schwartz.
Irma Vep 4 Irma Vep 5 Irma Vep 6
(l. to r.) Jeffrey M. Bender as “Lady Enid Hillcrest” and John Cariani as "Jane Twisden" in Charles Ludlam's gothic spoof, The Mystery of Irma Vep, at The Old Globe July 31 - Sept. 6, 2009. Photo by Craig Schwartz.
(l. to r.) Jeffrey M. Bender as “Nicodemus” and John Cariani as "Jane Twisden" in Charles Ludlam's gothic spoof, The Mystery of Irma Vep, at The Old Globe July 31 - Sept. 6, 2009. Photo by Craig Schwartz.
(l. to r.) John Cariani as "Lord Edgar Hillcrest" and Jeffrey M. Bender as “Lady Enid Hillcrest” in Charles Ludlam's gothic spoof, The Mystery of Irma Vep, at The Old Globe July 31 - Sept. 6, 2009. Photo by Craig Schwartz.
Irma Vep 7 Irma Vep 8 Irma Vep 9
Jeffrey M. Bender as "Lady Enid Hillcrest" in Charles Ludlam's gothic spoof, The Mystery of Irma Vep, at The Old Globe July 31 - Sept. 6, 2009. Photo by Craig Schwartz.
Jeffrey M. Bender as "Lady Enid Hillcrest" in Charles Ludlam's gothic spoof, The Mystery of Irma Vep, at The Old Globe July 31 - Sept. 6, 2009. Photo by Craig Schwartz.
Jeffrey M. Bender as "Lady Enid Hillcrest" in Charles Ludlam's gothic spoof, The Mystery of Irma Vep, at The Old Globe July 31 - Sept. 6, 2009. Photo by Craig Schwartz.
Irma Vep 10
John Cariani as "Jane Twisden" in Charles Ludlam's gothic spoof, The Mystery of Irma Vep, at The Old Globe July 31 - Sept. 6, 2009. Photo by Craig Schwartz.
John Cariani as "Lord Edgar Hillcrest" in Charles Ludlam's gothic spoof, The Mystery of Irma Vep, at The Old Globe July 31 - Sept. 6, 2009. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM
(click on image to download a high-resolution headshot)
Jeffrey M. Bender (Lady Enid Hillcrest/Nicodemus Underwood/Alcazar/Pev Amri)
THE OLD GLOBE: Opus. BROADWAY: Cymbeline, Lincoln Center Theater. OFF BROADWAY: Jane Eyre, The Acting Com-pany. RE-GIONAL: The Three Musketeers, Seattle Repertory Theatre; Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), The Rivals, Life of Galileo, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Enrico IV, Antony and Cleopatra, As You Like It, Measure for Measure, Camino Real, Shakespeare Theatre of NJ; The Nerd, Delaware Theatre Company; Rounding Third and Fuddy Meers, Capital Repertory Theatre; The Comedy of Errors, Shakespeare on the Sound. EDUCATION: University of Michigan.
John Cariani (Lord Edgar Hillcrest/Jane Twisden/An Intruder)
THE OLD GLOBE: Debut. Broadway: Fiddler on the Roof (Tony Award® nomination; Outer Critics Circle Award). Off Broad-way: The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Public/NYSF; Modern Orthodox; It’s My Party… REGIONAL: Ahmanson Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. Film: Scotland, PA; Show-time; Kissing Jessica Stein; Robot Stories. TV: Law & Order (Beck, the forensics tech, 2002-2007), Six Degrees; Ed. EDUCATION: Amherst College.
Charles Ludlam (Playwright)
Ludlam was a multi-talented, off the wall and out of the closet actor, playwright, director, and producer whose Ridiculous Theatrical Company broke boundaries and helped define the avant-garde Off Off Broadway movement. He was born in Floral Park, New York, and educated at Hofstra University. He first acted professionally in New York in 1967 with the Playhouse of the Ridiculous where some of his plays were performed. But later that year he founded his own troupe and was busy for the next twenty years, the company going from obscurity, to campy cult interest, to citywide admiration. Ludlam usually played the leading role (male or female) in his outrageous spoofs, although as time went by he employed less camp and more of a highly theatrical style. Perhaps his Marguerite Gautier in Camille (1974) was the role most identified with Ludlam and his play The Mystery of Irma Vep (1984) is his most revived in theatres across the country. (Bio from Answers.com)
Henry Wishcamper (Director)
Conor McPherson’s Port Authority, Atlantic Theater Company; The Seafarer, Hartford TheaterWorks; The Good Thief, Portland Stage; Horton Foote’s Talking Pictures, Goodman Theatre; Lanford Wilson’s The Mound Builders, Juilliard; Jane Martin’s Flags, 59e59; Doug Grissom’s Elvis People, New World Stages; his own play The Polish Play, A Conflation of Macbeth by William Shakespeare and Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry, Katharsis Theater Company; Thornton Wilder’s Pullman Car Hiawatha (Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Revival of a Play), Keen Company. He served as the assistant director on the Broadway productions of August: Osage County (directed by Anna D. Shapiro) and Shining City (directed by Robert Falls). Henry is the Artistic Director of Katharsis Theater Company. He is a Drama League Directing Fellow and a graduate of Yale University. Upcoming: The Marx Brothers’ Animal Crackers at the Goodman.
Robin Vest (Scenic Design)
NEW YORK: Hoodoo Love, The Cherry Lane; A Very Common Procedure, MCC; Pen, Playwrights Horizons; Geometry of Fire, Acts of Mercy: passion-play and God Hates the Irish, Rattlestick; Black Snow, The New School; Mario and the Magician, Center for Contemporary Opera; Get What You Need, Atlantic 453. Regional: Animal Crackers, Goodman Theatre; Hansel and Gretel, Washington National Opera; Ariadne Auf Naxos, Utah Opera, Vancouver Opera; Brevard Music Center, Triad Stage, Playmaker’s Rep, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Yale Repertory Theatre. Robin is on the design faculty at Rutgers University.
Jenny Mannis (Costume Design)
THE OLD GLOBE: Pig Farm. NEW YORK: 10 Things To Do Before I Die, Swimming in the Shallows, Second Stage; Port Authority, The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, Atlantic Theater Company; The Drunken City (Lucille Lortel Award nomination), Pen, Manic Flight Reaction, Playwrights Horizons; Something You Did, The Right Kind of People, Primary Stages; Spain, In a Dark Dark House, MCC; Dog Sees God, Century Center; The Polish Play, Katharsis Theater Company; Heddatron and Boozy, Les Freres Corbusier; Stay and Where We’re Born, Rattlestick; Animal Farm (Drama Desk Award nomination) Synapse Productions. REGIONAL: Two Rivers Theater, Studio Theatre, Huntington Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Bay Street Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre. FILM: Beloved, Elevation Filmworks; All Saints Day, Washington Square Films. EDUCATION: MFA, Yale School of Drama (awarded the Leo Lerman Fellowship in Design). UPCOMING: Animal Crackers, Goodman Theatre; Whisper House, The Old Globe.
Jason Bieber (Lighting Design)
THE OLD GLOBE: Since Africa. OLD GLOBE MFA: Richard III, An Absolute Turkey, Marat/Sade, Uncle Vanya. ELSEWHERE: Cowboy Versus Samurai (2007 Patté Award), Permanent Collection, Night Sky (2008 Patté Award), Mo’olelo Performing Arts Company; Sweet 15 Quinceñera, San Diego Repertory Theatre; Nine, My Fair Lady, Starlight Theatre; Bluebonnet Court, No Exit, Scrooge in Rouge, Diversionary Theatre; Bleeding Kansas, Moxie Theatre; Charlie’s Aunt, A Christmas Carol, North Coast Repertory Theatre; A Midsummer Night's Dream, Orphans, Prelude to a Kiss, New Village Arts; Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Muertos, The Crucible, Songs for a New World, American Song, Einstein's Dreams, University of San Diego; Young Playwrights Project: Plays by Young Writers 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2007; Henry and Ramona, Suds, Seussical the Musical, J-Company; Once on this Island, Macbeth, Carnegie Mellon University; Blood Wedding, You Can’t Take it With You, LA County High School for the Arts. AWARDS: Has received two Patté Awards for lighting design. EDUCATION: BFA, Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama.
Paul Peterson (Sound Design)
THE OLD GLOBE: Over 70 productions, including: Cornelia, The Price, Kingdom, Six Degrees of Separation, Since Africa, The Women, Back Back Back, Sight Unseen, The Pleasure of His Company, The American Plan, Sea of Tranquility, Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas!, Hay Fever, Bell, Book and Candle, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Two Trains Running, Hold Please, Restoration Comedy, The Four of Us, Pig Farm, The Sisters Rosensweig, Trying, Moonlight and Magnolias, Vincent in Brixton, I Just Stopped By to See the Man, Lucky Duck, The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, Blue/Orange, Time Flies, Pentecost, Compleat Female Stage Beauty, The Boswell Sisters, Crumbs from the Table of Joy. ELSEWHERE: Centerstage, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, San Jose Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Sledgehammer Theatre (Associate Artist), Mo’olelo Performing Arts Company, The Wilma Theatre, LA Theatre Works, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, North Coast Repertory Theatre, Diversionary Theatre, Cape Fear Regional Theatre, Hope Summer Repertory Theatre, Malashock Dance & Company, The University of San Diego, San Diego State University, and the Freud Theatre at UCLA. EDUCATION: BFA in Drama with an emphasis in Technical Design from San Diego State University.
Steve Rankin - Associate Artist (Fight Director)
THE OLD GLOBE: Mr. Rankin is an Associate Artist of The Old Globe as an actor and fight director. This is his 23rd season staging fights for theGlobe, including the 2004-2009 Summer Shakespeare Festivals, Cyrano de Bergerac, Coriolanus, Cornelia, In This Corner, Pig Farm, Pentecost, Compleat Female Stage Beauty, Twelfth Night, Cymbeline, Romeo and Juliet, As You Like it, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Antony and Cleopatra, Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, Hamlet, White Linen, Julius Caesar, Henry V and Richard II. BROADWAY: Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2 (directed by Jack O'Brien), Jersey Boys, Guys and Dolls, Twelfth Night, Getting Away with Murder, Dracula the Musical, The Who's Tommy, Anna Christie, The Real Inspector Hound, Two Shakespearean Actors. OFF BROAD-WAY: The Third Story, Pig Farm, The Night Hank Williams Died and Richard Dresser's Below the Belt. REGIONAL: La Jolla Playhouse, Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson, Geffen Playhouse, CenterStage, Geva Theatre Center, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Philadelphia Drama Guild, Virginia Stage Company and the Actors Theatre of Louisville. FILM: Renaissance Man, Human Error, Tumbleweeds. INTERNATIONAL: The Stratford Shakespeare Festival. OPERA: Seattle Opera, San Diego Opera and the Metropolitan Opera.
Kathryn Davies (Stage Manager)
THE OLD GLOBE: Debut. REGIONAL: Our Mother's Brief Affair, The Injured Party, South Coast Repertory; La Bohème, Hansel and Gretel, Tulsa Opera. REGIONAL CANADA: Of Mice and Men, Theatre Calgary/CanStage/ Neptune Theatre/National Arts Centre; To Kill A Mockingbird, Citadel Theatre/ Manitoba Theatre Centre; Vinci, Manitoba Theatre Centre/National Arts Centre/CanStage; The Dresser, Manitoba Theatre Centre; The Four Lives of Marie, Emphysema, Motel Hélène, Sunlight, The Designated Mourner, Tarragon Theatre; Phèdre, Soulpepper Theatre Company; Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, Closer, CanStage; Oleanna, The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine, Neptune Theatre; The Wizard of Oz, The Grand Theatre; Don Pasquale, La Bohème, La Traviata, Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Roméo et Juliette, Tosca, Otello, La Fille du Régiment, Opera Ontario. FILM: Ms. Davies has worked as a Head Theatre Representative and Team Leader for the Toronto International Film Festival, Dubai International Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival.
Chris Wollman (The Third Man)
THE OLD GLOBE: Debut. Chris is currently double-majoring in Theatre Performance and English at San Diego State University, where he has appeared in productions including Urinetown the Musical, Desire Under the Elms and The Good Person of Szechwan.