The Happiest Medium Review By Linnea Covington

The charm of filmmaker Ed Wood’s low budget B movies is mainly seen through his poor lighting, technical difficulties, bad actors, and  all around sense that a child made the films for their school project rather than a grown man. This isn’t to say they aren’t brilliant, a trait Frank Cwiklik fully grasps. Hence, the reason for Cwiklik’s off the wall, exciting, and wonderfully executed series of plays based, mostly, on five of Wood’s films.

DMT Theatrics’ series, Final Curtain, the Last of Ed Wood provided laughs which shook you so hard you were grasping at the edge of your seat.    Cwiklik adapted, designed, produced, and directed Wood’s Bride of the Monster, Night of the Ghouls, The Sinister Urge!, Hot Ice, and The Violent Years. Unfortunately, it was a short run at the Red Room and as of this article, they are no longer playing  (such a shame!) but, fingers crossed- hopefully they do another run soon. If these plays are produced in a similar format again , I would suggest seeing them in the order mentioned above if you can, not that they won’t be enjoyable if you don’t follow this plan – I didn’t after all.

In Night of the Ghouls, the sinister psychic Dr. Ackula (Craig Kelton Peterson, C), and his ertswhile assistant (Ivy Hong, L), unwittingly anger the angry dead (represented by Josh Potter, R), (Photo by Frank Cwiklik).

While all the actors played their parts superbly, a few really stood out. For one, Craig Kelton Peterson as Dr. Ackula in Bride of the Monster and as Dirk Williams in The Sinister Urge!, nailed his roles. Peterson is just so, so weird in a perfectly Ed Wood way and managed to shimmy, shake, and slay with a straight face, wacky costumes, and comical grace. Funny enough, his middle name, Kelton, also brings to mind the bumbling buffoon that Adam Files expertly exuded in his reoccurring role as Officer Paul Kelton. It felt that in every play Files became more attuned to the audience and one time, before Bride of the Monster started, he sat in the audience and chatted with Cwiklik who was on stage. How unprofessional!  How Ed Wood.

Save for some very Wood-appropriate technical difficulties in the first few performances that made them start late, the shows went off without a hitch. Even when things didn’t appear to be running smoothly, it all seemed like part of the act. Jason Stanley did a great bit as Lt. Matt Carson in three of the plays and had a wonderful rapport on stage both with Files, as well as with Josh Potter, who played Sgt. Randy Stone in The Sinister Urge! and Victor in Hot Ice. In The Violent Years, Shiloh Klein stole the limelight with her portrayal as Paula Parkins, rich girl gone bad. Not only did she believably play the innocent and smart girl, but, with her pouty lips and well-timed glare, you forgot she was just an actor. When I saw her again in the other plays’ minor roles, the sultry adolescent was gone and Parkins became perky.

Brianna Tyson in Hot Ice; Emily Edwards in The Violent Years; Tom O'Connor in Bride of the Monster; Michele Schlossberg in The Sinister Urge!; and Craig Kelton Peterson in Night of the Ghouls. (Photo by Frank Cwiklik)

Brianna Tyson came through as Shiela Rosen, Paula’s crime-mentor in that same play. Though she killed in that part, her starring role was  as Charlotte Farthington, Winford Farthington’s wife and partner in crime in Hot Ice. She does rich glam well, but not nearly as well as the cat-burglar-ninja dance she performed in order to steal some diamonds. In Hot Ice Lindsey Carter shone as Danielle, the slutty wife of Potter’s Victor. Carter also rocked her role as the badass Captain Helen Robbins in Night of the Ghouls, and I am pretty sure she showed her underwear in every single play—not complaining.

The sexy pinup queens and smut peddlers of DMT's most popular Ed Wood tribute, The Sinister Urge! L to R: Lindsey Carter, Michele Schlossberg, Ivy Hong. (Photo by Frank Cwiklik)

Overall, the plays proved a tight homage to the master of B movies, and the cast of 17 actors clearly had a lot of fun with it. I am impressed they could carry out so many roles in such a short span, not an easy feat when producing five plays and sometimes playing two-plus characters in each. I hope they do another run of this because even if you aren’t familiar with Ed Wood, nothing will perk up your night more than a dash of his world as told by these performers.

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