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He Headless Horseman Rides Again by Seanearley
CEDAR FALLS – One of America'southward first ghost stories, Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," will be presented by Cedar Falls Community Theatre, opening Fri.
Performances run through Oct. 17 at the Oster Regent Theatre, directed past Alan Malone and John Nicol.
"Information technology'southward the chilling flavor, so 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' makes a swell lead into fall, October and the Halloween spirit," said Nicol. "The show is an enhanced staged reading. Actors will have scripts with them, only we take lots of technical elements and effects to heighten the testify. It won't exist a bunch of actors sitting at stands reading the lines."
Written in 1820, Irving'due south tale about schoolmaster Ichabod Crane is set in the village of Sleepy Hollow in the Hudson River Valley of upstate New York. Sleepy Hollow is renowned for its haunting surroundings and ghost stories.
Crane, an ambitious newcomer in search of wealth to quench his "appetite for the marvelous," attends a party where he listens to the ghostly tales and attempts to woo a young heiress at the party. Katrina van Tassel also is being courted by a young ruffian, Brom Bones. After Van Tassel rejects Crane, he leaves the political party.
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On his way home, the superstitious schoolmaster is chased through the dark and foreboding countryside past a headless horseman. The horseman may be Crane'south rival for Katrina's affections, Bones, in costume to affright Crane. Or information technology could be the ghost of a Hessian soldier decapitated by a cannonball in battle during the American Revolutionary War who "rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his caput," co-ordinate to Irving'south story. Subsequently the headless horseman hurls a pumpkin at Crane'south caput, the hapless schoolmaster is thrown from his horse and disappears from the village.
"The Fable of Sleepy Hollow" has been adjusted numerous times for the stage, including a Broadway musical. On the big screen, adaptations range from a silent film in 1922, a Walt Disney blithe film in 1949 narrated by Bing Crosby and the 1999 Tim Burton film to a retelling of the story featuring Smurfs. Television has adapted Irving's story countless times, with one of the most recent, the crime/horror serial "Sleepy Hollow" that ran for four seasons beginning in 2013.
The xv-member CFCT cast features Mitchel Forker as Crane and Emma Kossayian as Katrina van Tassel. Nicol plays Brom Bones, as well equally serving equally co-director.
He's having "a smash" collaborating with Malone, an experienced CFCT manager. "He's taken more of the rehearsal side of things, and I'grand helping with the technical elements of the bear witness," Nicol explained.
There will be numerous special lighting and sound effects, as well every bit projections to create an eerie setting for the actors. Thomas P. White is projections and lighting designer, and Benjamin Merz is sound designer.
"The script lends itself to a lot of comedic moments and the audience will find themselves laughing. There are a lot of spooky moments, too, that will make the audience experience unsettled and sometimes, straight-upwards frightened," Nicol added.