"LOOK!" section from The Meriden Record Journal
Sunday February 1, 2004

"Meriden Native Writes Play For Castle Craig Players"

By Ralph Hohman
Record Journal Staff

 

Marcus Hamilton insists that his play about a boy who can't sleep because there's a monster in his closet isn't autobiographical. But 10-year old Connor Jason, who plays the lead in "Tales Of A Moon Glow," does admit to an occasional scary night.

"I just run downstairs and sleep in the living room, or I don't sleep," he said the other day during a break in the Castle Craig Players' rehearsal at the Almira F. Stephan Memorial Playhouse, where "Tales Of A Moon Glow" premieres Friday.

Hamilton, a 34 year old Meriden native and one of the Players' own, adapted the play from a piece he once wrote - a sort of guidebook, he says, on what to do if you find a monster in your closet.

It was published in an anthology of short stories, he says, but needed some work to make it viable as a play. Hamilton is directing the play, too, and says he's enjoyed the process.

"It's great seeing what's on the page translated to people on the stage."

It's the first time, says Castle Craig Players founder Warren Stephan, that the company has done a full original piece - "and we've done a lot of plays."

Hamilton, by trade a freelance lighting and sound man for film, video and theater, was to direct another original play the Castle Craig Players had planned to do as part of the city's Evening Of Celebration in September, 2001.

Then 9/11 happened, and "They Came From Above," a short comedy written by Pete Turdin and based on the panic that followed Orson Welles' radio broadcast of "War Of The Worlds" no longer seemed funny, or appropriate.

"Tales Of A Moon Glow," Hamilton says, is suitable for all ages, with a happy ending and all. It's especially aimed at kids. Jason, a fifth grader from Prospect who was in the Players' holiday production of "the Best Christmas Pageant Ever," says he likes "Tales Of A Moon Glow" because he gets to spend almost the whole play in bed.

"I learned my lines two weeks before we had to be off book," he said.

The play runs Fridays, Saturdays for the next two weekends, with a kid friendly 7 p.m. curtain. And there are Sunday matinees both weekends at 2 p.m. Running time is about 90 minutes, including intermission.

And the star of the show, Hamilton says, will make a cameo appearance Friday night, as a real-life full moon greets the premiere performance.

"The moon has a lot to do with the play," he said. "The moon causes some of the boy's toys to come alive, and they help him conquer his fears of what's in the closet."