Few storytellers invoke the spooky quite so skillfully as Megan Wells, whose past personae have included Dracula and Bradbury’s own Mr. Dark. This year, Wells will call up the gruesome yet funny Sir Simon from the Oscar Wilde tale, “The Canterville Ghost.” Wells holds the prestigious Joseph Jefferson Award for directing, and has spent the past 15 years touring on the storytelling circuit, performing at theaters, festivals, libraries, schools and museums statewide.
A veteran Shakespeare actor, John Forsythe will perform a piece from one of the oldest and most well-known ghost stories, Hamlet. Forsythe has worked as both actor and director with the Chicago Shakespeare Company, City Lit, numerous school tours, and as Artist in Residence at the Skokie Library. He now directs plays and teaches drama and math at York High School in Elmhust.
Carol Birch counterpoints an otherwise fearsome lineup with “Exchange,”
The Genesee Theatre, built in 1927, harbors its own, little-known creepy tales. Chicago Emmy Award-winning Jim May will unveil the ghosts still skulking in the shadows of this Waukegan landmark—one of Bradbury’s favorite boyhood haunts. May also plans to reveal the horror behind “The Boarded Window,” Ambrose Bierce’s plot-twisting thriller. Co-founder of the Illinois Storytelling Festival, May earned the Circle of Excellence Award for storytelling in 2000.
Without the oral tradition of storytelling, we may never have heard of Ray Bradbury. His fame spread through old-time radio programs like Dimension X, which began airing his stories back in the fifties. Dubbed the master storyteller, Bradbury creates scenes and characters so vivid, they require no screen to envision. In 2006, the Waukegan Public Library conceived its annual Ray Bradbury Storytelling Festival to pay tribute to the author’s genius, and inject new vigor into classic tales of terror.
Tickets: $17. On sale at the Genesee Theatre Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.com or (800) 745-3000.
