North Shore Theatre Group presents Greg Oliver Bodine in Dark Soundings -- a double bill of one-man, stage adaptations of The Screaming Skull and The Upper Berth by F. Marion Crawford.  Dark Soundings is being offered as part of NSTG's Solo Classics Performance Series.  These two plays are staged back-to-back with minimal set and lighting effects, and are performed with an intermission in 75 minutes.  One actor. Two classic ghost stories!  Touring theaters, libraries, maritime museums, yacht clubs, colleges & schools Oct. 1 - Nov. 8, 2009.  Suitable for adults and for children (ages 12 and over).  Directed by DeLisa M. White.  Asst. Director: Jenny Rosenbluth.  Stage Manager: Ien DeNio.

All aboard for this nautical treat of thrills and chills!  A must-see for haunted ship enthusiasts and fans of mystery and horror!  Perfect for the Halloween season!

To view the promotional trailer on YouTube, click here

F. Marion Crawford (1854-1909) was a popular American novelist, playwright, essayist and short story writer. He was born at Bagni di Lucca, Italy, the son of the American sculptor Thomas Crawford and Louisa Cutler Ward, and the nephew of Julia Ward Howe, the American poet. Crawford’s first novel, Mr. Isaacs (1882) was an immediate success, and its author's promise was confirmed by the subsequent publication of Dr. Claudius in 1883. Short stories, such as "The Upper Berth" (1886), "For the Blood Is the Life" (1911), a vampire tale, are often-anthologized classics of the horror genre. "The Screaming Skull" (1908) in particular, was praised by legendary horror writer, H.P. Lovecraft, as "Crawford's weird masterpiece” and “one of the most tremendous horror stories in all literature.”

The Screaming Skull: Capt. Braddock, a retired seaman, tells a haunting tale about the local doctor who he suspects of murdering his wife by pouring molten lead in her ear. Dr. Pratt then dies mysteriously “by the hands or teeth of some person unknown.” Braddock, who inherits the doctor's seaside cottage, has also inherited a skull in a hat box that was discovered next to Pratt’s corpse on a deserted beach. Something inside the skull rattles when he shakes it. But, when he tries to get rid of the skull, the screams begin. Will Capt. Braddock become the next victim of gruesome intrigue surrounding the screaming skull?

The Upper Berth: In the elegant lounge of a posh New York yacht club, a business traveler and sailor named Brisbane recalls securing a haunted berth on the steamship, Kamtschatka, bound for Liverpool. He requests a state-room with a double bunk and is disappointed to learn that he will have a roommate in the upper berth. During the first night of the voyage, his roommate runs screaming out of the small room and throws himself overboard. Brisbane learns that three other men who booked into Room 105 have killed themselves in the same fashion, and he is determined to investigate matters that strike him as altogether ‘supernatural.’

Poe, Times Two