A "Monster" Project Grown In Nearby Pawtucket

"We are fighting Rhode Island 'Distance Anxiety," says Ricardo Pitts-Wiley, Artistic Director of Mixed Magic Theatre in Pawtucket. It's not exactly Franklin D. Roosevelt exhorting us to give up our fear of fear itself, but Pitts-Wiley is not far off the mark when he suggests Rhode Islanders are irrationally resistant to the idea of driving out of town to go to the theater. Note to East Siders: downtown Pawtucket is all of five minutes away!

For those who haven't yet made the commitment, May would be a good time to consider busting loose. May 22, to be specific – the opening date for Mixed Magic Theatre's latest literary production, The Frankenstein Project, an original adaptation of the Mary Shelley novel. The Theatre is at 171 Main Street, just barely beyond Route 95. Pitts-Wiley promises the trip will be worth your while.

Ricardo Pitts-Wiley and his wife, Bernadet, founded Mixed Magic Theatre in 2000. It has been located in Pawtucket since 2005. The mission of the non-profit "multi-cultural, repertory performing arts theater" is to create a more literate, arts-active community. Pitts-Wiley's approach is broad and long-term. First and foremost, he says, "You have to believe in the work you are doing, and it has to be done on your timetable, not somebody else's. Sometimes a presentation of a work is an evolution."

The Frankenstein Project will be the third major literary production undertaken by Mixed Magic Theatre, as part of an expanded mission to address concerns about literacy and to build a new audience for Theatre and all arts disciplines. The most recent "literary" project was Dunbar, Done by, a one-man show based on the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar. "The play was an exploration of a literary icon," says Pitts-Wiley, whose goal is to get the audience to become invested in the original work but more importantly in the implications all great works have in today's culture. His plan is for the adaptations to continue. "This time," he says, "the play was Dunbar, Done by by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley. Next time, it will be Dunbar, Done by by X – fill in the blank, it could be anybody."

Moby Dick: Then and Now was the theater's first major literary undertaking and is the real model for this season's The Frankenstein Project. The Moby Dick production gained national and international attention for the way it engaged the community across traditional divides. Mixed Magic Theatre is choosing the literature for its stage productions with this in mind. Melville's classic tale, says Pitts-Wiley, is about what America could be and what America should be. "Its themes apply to everybody – Black, White, Native American, Pacific Islander, rich or poor. If you don't work together, you will die together. What are the consequences of following a bad leader?" One of two parallel stories in the play addressed what those questions mean to a 17-year old, or to a 15-year old. "The story is our journey into taking classic literature and making it relevant to today's younger generation."

The Frankenstein Project will take the same sort of path. Mary Shelley's work was chosen not for its place in the pantheon of great literature, but for its enduring characters, and will be presented as a means to engage the audience – to encourage the audience to take ownership of the literary work and the questions it poses even, or maybe especially, today. "The Frankenstein Project is about the complexity of Shelley's characters, as they might be in a contemporary society. What do we do with the monsters we create? And, what do they do with us? How do we define monsters?" Pitts-Wiley's questions are not so much rhetorical – although he certainly does not expect "answers" – as they are jumping off points for discussion. "Monsters," he says, "are people who hurt us. But a monster to one group is a hero to another. Part of my take on the novel is the denial of that which is created – the catalyst which motivates us. First, there is the denial. Then there is the audacity of the 'creature' to want all of the things the creator wants and expects. It is the story of Lucifer, of Dante's Inferno, of the immigrant who says 'I've worked hard and now I want the things America promises,' and of the African, kidnapped against his will, forfeiting his identity and then one day, now that he is human, wanting life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Pitts-Wiley is serious when he talks about the evolution of a theater's work – a need to move away from a traditional "production model." May's performances of The Frankenstein Project will be what he calls a "workshop" production – it will propel the theatre to a full-scale production in February 2009, including seminars, symposiums and artwork. "Scholars and students from across the country are contacting Mixed Magic Theatre now about this production. The (Shelley) book is often studied, because of the characters, and because of the metaphor for human character."

Another element of The Frankenstein Project will be a campaign to get 10,000 people to read Shelley's novel. "This is an opportunity to have a deeper relationship with your audience, because when you've read the work, you have an opportunity to be invested in the production. It becomes 'your work.'"

If you think you want to become part of the creative dialogue that is Mixed Magic Theatre, and feel immune to Rhode Island Distance Anxiety, then get out your maps (just kidding – you won't really need them, honest) and prepare for a trip to the emerging arts community of Pawtucket. For tickets to The Frankenstein Project (May 22-May 31, Thursdays-Saturdays, all shows at 7:30 p.m.), call 401-305-7333. Mixed Magic Theatre's literary productions are developed concurrently with more traditional shows. For information on other events and happenings, go to www.mixedmagictheatre.org.