Kickstarter Campaign Launched to Bring 'Apocalypse Hotel' to the Big Apple

Curious about the zombie apocalypse, but not actually prepared to live through a real one? Well, wonder no more because Apocalypse Hotel would ease your curiosity while taking you on an adrenaline pumping adventure. The interactive theatrical experience would take guests through an apocalyptic scenario, allowing them to play survivors or take on the role of the undead.

Creator Cletus McKeown has launched a Kickstarter campaign to help bring the project to life and help the crew turn the Brooklyn Lyceum, a retired bathhouse, into a two-week long zombie Armageddon.

A little more information from their site reveals:
Apocalypse Hotel is a choose your own adventure interactive theatrical experience in which players either attempt to survive the zombie takeover and progress through multiple story-driven levels or join the zombie horde to hunt and infect the remaining survivors. Unlike other live action zombie-themed events such as haunted houses and obstacle courses, surviving Apocalypse Hotel won’t be just about running away. Small groups of survivors will be thrown into a post-apocalyptic venue and faced with fate altering decisions and realistic survival scenarios all while trying to avoid being infected by zombies. Actors and other participants will guide, influence, scare and help the survivors while those who choose to become zombies will try to infect the survivors and turn them into zombies for the rest of the game. Each experience is unique and the outcome is solely determined by choices made throughout the game play.

The Apocalypse Hotel team are hoping to reach their goal of $12,500 by March 14, so if this is something you'd like to see become a terrifying reality, go become a backer ASAP because every dollar helps! You will also be rewarded for your donations, ranging from thank yous on their website to a night in a nearby hotel for you and a guest to take in the show. Get in on the action and see if you've really got what it takes to survive.

-Nowal Massari

Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen on Being Besties and 'Waiting For Godot'

Within the theatre, they are master British thespians, knighted for their contributions to the craft. Within fan culture, they have geek god status—one as a Starfleet captain, the other as a fierce wizard and friend to Hobbits, both as powerful mutant leaders. In social media, they are something of a viral Internet phenomenon as they adventure throughout New York City and send holiday greetings to fans.

But really, Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen are perhaps most beloved for being best friends and collaborators who have used the combined might mentioned above to create one of the more buzzed about and compelling theater experiences around. Even before beginning previews last October, Waiting for Godot and No Man’s Land -- the duo’s two plays in repertory at Manhattan’s Cort Theatre, directed by Sean Mathias and also starring Billy Crudup and Shuler Hensley – the two big actors in the Big Apple were causing a stir. Not only were they reteaming on stage following their Godot performances in London in 2009 and 2010, but they seemed to be having so much fun doing it. Here was Stewart and McKellen eating hot dogs on Coney Island; there they were posing with Elmo in Times Square -- or sitting on Santa's lap or handing out hot chocolate on Super Bowl Sunday. McKellen even performed the ceremony for Stewart’s wedding last September.

'Harry Potter' Gearing Up to Hit the Stage

Bust out your wands, "Harry Potter" fans, because author J.K. Rowling is ready to take us back into the world of witchcraft and wizardry. Rowling recently took to her Facebook page and announced that she will be co-producing a play with Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender about "The Boy Who Lived" and his time before Hogwarts. According to the statement released on her Facebook:

What was it like to be the boy in the cupboard under the stairs? This brand new play, which will be developed for the UK theatre, will explore the previously untold story of Harry's early years as an orphan and outcast. Featuring some of our favourite characters from the Harry Potter books, this new work will offer a unique insight into the heart and mind of the now legendary young wizard. A seemingly ordinary boy, but one for whom Destiny has plans...Over the years I have received countless approaches about turning Harry Potter into a theatrical production, but Sonia and Colin’s vision was the only one that really made sense to me, and which had the sensitivity, intensity and intimacy I thought appropriate for bringing Harry's story to the stage. After a year in gestation it is exciting to see this project moving on to the next phase. I’d like to thank Warner Bros. for their continuing support in this project.

Rowling will not be writing the script, unfortunately, though the team is looking for writers and directors to continue the beloved story of young Harry. The project is expected to move into development in 2014.

-Nowal Massari

Will Disney Bring ‘The Princess Bride’ to the Stage?

Courtesy PrincessBrideForever.com

It looks like Princess Buttercup and Westley’s romance may be brought to the stage. Inconceivable? Not really. The idea of developing a stage version of the 1987 cult fairy-tale hit, "The Princess Bride," is being strongly considered according to a report over at Entertainment Weekly.

They revealed, “Disney Theatrical Productions announced Monday that William Goldman’s 1973 novel and subsequent 1987 film adaptation would be the next in line for development by Disney’s stage arm.” But will is be a musical to “tweasure" or simply a play? They have yet to decide and the project has no timeline.

The Rob Reiner-directed classic has some pretty devoted fans so if the powers that be (Disney Theatrical Productions) don’t get this right, they better prepare to…Well, you know the rest!

So what say you on a stage version? Yay or nay? Should it be a musical or a rom-com play that exactly follows the film? We think it could be pretty entertaining either way!

-Larissa Mrykalo

Go For a 'Trek in the Park' This August in Portland

After finding the theater scene in Portland, Ore., a little lackluster, Atomic Arts co-founders Adam and Amy Rosko decided to boldly go where no other theater company had gone before.

After much deliberation, and continual viewing of the classic Kirk vs. Spock scene from "Amok Time," the brother-sister team decided to bring classic Star Trek to life in the parks of Portland, Oregon.

When it began, they were uncertain how people would react. The Star Trek fandom is notably huge, and nerds in Portland are particularly vocal when they feel their favorite nerdiverses are being mistreated. However, on the first run in July 2009, when he uttered the first line of the monologue as Captain James Tiberius Kirk, Adam says the crowd cheered wildly, and it was then they knew that they had made the right decision.

Cast of "Trek in the Park"

This August, after a five-year run and gaining a cult following, including a quick spot on hit show Portlandia, the bridge crew of the USS Enterprise will take its last voyage in the City of Roses.

When I sat down to speak with Portland's “Captain Kirk,” I asked him why they had decided to end the show after being so well received. Rosko stated that they had always planned on mirroring the five year mission mentioned in the shows prologue and always knew the order in which the shows would go. They also knew that they would end with "The Trouble with Tribbles," one of the most well known episodes in the Trek-verse to viewers and non-viewers alike.