The Not-So Silent Planet

a speculative reading series
(presented in collaboration with Word Sprout)

"'...and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice, 'Without pictures or conversations?'"

- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Praise for "The Not-So-Silent Planet"

"It shouldn’t be a surprise to you that ultra-hip MPLS + STPL has [a]...night dedicated to...sci-fi, fantasy, tales of the supernatural and such. It also shouldn’t be a surprise that the quality of the material is higher than an H.G. Wells zeppelin."
- Hitara, Secrets of the City

"...that was some delightfully trippy shit...mind-bendingly strange and fun...they burrow into your mind and keep you thinking about them long after they're done."
- Matthew Everett, Single White Fringe Geek

"...definitely in the grand tradition of short-story writing in the genre...if you like story-telling events, don't miss this one. Seriously. Just...don't."
"I love audio books. I love science fiction and fantasy stories. I love really good storytellers. I loved this show."
"...helps you to see that there are many possibilities in this vast universe of ours."
- five-star audience reviews (from the Minnesota Fringe Festival)

About the Show

Have you ever imagined a world whose laws of physics differ from our own? This series features readings of Victorian speculative fiction for the stage, including lost, unpublished texts that have not been produced in over a century. With a happy hour from 5-7pm, and all-star ensemble readings taking place from 7pm onwards!

Presumption; or, The Fate of Frankenstein

by Richard Brinsley Peake

Behold, the very first ensemble science-fiction drama ever written! Adapting the earliest sci-fi story (Mary Shelley's Frankenstein) published only five years before. One of the stranger quirks of the production is that, at the time, only a handful of theatres were granted royal dispensation to produce "legitimate" drama, which means that all other projects had to be "illegitimate", featuring elements of pantomime, spectacle, or music. Hence, Shelley's brooding scientific nightmare here takes the form of -- a musical comedy?

A Christmas Carol; or, Past, Present and Future

by Edward Stirling

Why not? Why not read A Christmas Carol in May? Featuring the only script to be approved by Dickens, produced a mere two weeks after the full publication of the story. Curiously, censors at the time would not allow God to be mentioned onstage in any context -- and so, as Stirling's Tiny Tim observes, "Heaven bless us, every one!"

Alice in Wonderland; a Musical Dream Play in Two Acts

by Henry Savile Clark

A faery-tale, or a dream-play? At a time when both copyight and adaptation were legally ambiguous, playwright Henry Savile Clark took the initiative to reach out to original author Lewis Carroll to collaborate -- and the latter worked closely on the text, even contributing original poetry to the endeavor! If you're a fan of his unique brand of nonsense, prepare to hear material you've never heard before.