Fri Jun 6, 2008 12:53PM8 comments ›
Fri Jun 6, 2008 — by Mike Gold
John Ostrander's 'Bloody Bess' Retakes The Stage
Well, Ostrander, Norris and Gordon's Bloody Bess
Way back in the dark ages, Stuart Gordon directed a play for his Organic Theater written by ComicMix’s own John Ostrander and our pal William J. Norris called Bloody Bess. It starred Dennis Franz, Joe Mantegna and Meshach Taylor along with writer Norris – writer Ostrander was pressed into service once when he wasn’t performing at the Goodman Theater with Del Close. The play was about this lady pirate’s revenge on her kidnappers and had lots of swashbuckling and mystery and terror. I saw it only about nine times.
It toured all over the world, but eventually, like all stage plays, it faded. And like all good stage plays, Bloody Bess is making its triumphant return.
Between June 13 and July 20, Chicago’s BackStage Theater Company will be presenting Bloody Bess at The Storefront Theatre Gallery 37, 66 East Randolph Street, downtown near Lake Mighigan. It stars Eva Swan, Ron Kuzava and Scott Graham. They work on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm and on Sundays at 3 pm.
Hmmm… This will be going on during Wizard World Chicago. If you’re around, check it out.
Jump to comments (8) 
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Comments (8)
Michael H. Price (2:51 PM on Fri Jun 6, 2008)
Spoke at some length this week with Stuart Gordon in connection with the opening of his latest film, "Stuck." Interesting that "Bloody Bess," as an early benchmark for the Gordon-kindred Organic Theatre Company, should be returning at around the same time as the formal release of the new Gordon picture. Certainly do wish I could be in Chicago for this one -- but I'm, uh, stuck in Texas on some other theatricable business.
(Backgrounder: http://www.comicmix.com/news/2008/05/25/stuart-gordon-s-s...)
John Ostrander (2:49 PM on Sun Jun 8, 2008)
An interesting side note, IMO, is that BLOODY BESS was probably my real audition for comics. It was my writing for the play that made our MG think MAYBE I could write for comics -- which resulted in my getting a shot when Mike started up First Comics.
Jason (11:10 AM on Wed Jun 18, 2008)
To see photos and times/dates for the show go to www.backstagetheatrecompany.org
Matt (10:19 AM on Thu Jun 19, 2008)
I'm a biased poster (I'm on the BackStage Board of Directors and I designed the lights for Bloody Bess) but the show is defintely worth checking out! It's had rave reviews in the Chicago Reader and the Chicago Tribune:
http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/theaterrevi...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/stage/chi-blo...,0,4218705.story
Thank you to John and Stuart and everyone at the Organic for helping to create such a rich tradition of Chicago theatre!
(IMHO Bess would make a great one-shot graphic novel!)
Mike Gold (11:01 AM on Thu Jun 19, 2008)
Matt, I've been after the graphic novel rights for almost 30 years.
The Chicago theater tradition is amazing and awesome -- a who's who of performers over the past half-century. I've had the privilege to work with a number of people so involved, both in broadcasting and in comics (most recently, the gifted Chris Burnham) and I've been name-dropping ever since!
John Ostrander (11:28 AM on Thu Jun 19, 2008)
Matt
Thanks so much for dropping by with those reviews. I hadn't seen them. I don't know if i'll be able to get back to Chicago while the play is running but I certainly hope I can. I would LOVE to see this performance!
All the best
-- John
Mike Gold (11:35 AM on Thu Jun 19, 2008)
"But my words! My words shall live forever!!!"
Ostrander's best performance... at least on stage. And he was upside-down at the time. With his co-writer's knife at his throat!
Jason (2:53 PM on Thu Jun 19, 2008)
John- If you can make it let me know. We'd love to have you there and take you out for a pint afterwards. I think Bill is coming in July.
Jason-The AD