'Creating Monsters' By LAB Theater Project To Open Thursday

TAMPA, FL — As the witching season approached, LAB Theater Project is getting an early start with its production of "Creating Monsters."

The new play by Owen Robertson, Tampa playwright and LAB Theater Project founding creative director, is set in 1816 and explores the turmoil surrounding Mary Shelley that influenced her creation of the monster in her masterpiece, "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus," a story that has been electrifying the public through multiple media for more than 200 years.

This is Robertson's sixth play to be presented on stage. LAB Theater Project is a company that exclusively produces new works and nurtures playwrights to bring their ideas to life.

"Creating Monsters" is directed by regional director and actor Roz Potenza, and features local actors Eddie Gomez, Emma Hurlburt, Shaun Memmel, Maurice Parker and Newt Rametta.

Costume design is by Caroline Jett, set design by Robertson, scenic art by Cas Hardy, lights by Wayne Linderman and sound by Jonah Robertson.

“When I first read Owen’s 'Creating Monsters', I was drawn to the story because it wasn’t as much about Frankenstein’s monster as it was about the woman-child who wrote it," Potenza said. "Owen gives life to the 18-year-old Mary Shelley’s journey, from the emotional badgering by her unique family, through the self-satisfied intellectual fervor of the men around her and her own striving for purpose in life, to the burst of creative energy that brought us one of the most popular books in history."

Potenza said she leaped at the opportunity to direct the play.

"To be given the chance to direct a strong historic female character is a boon these days. Owen captures her determination, and I am excited to bring that to life," she said. "I had no such ambitions at her age, and I marvel at both her talents and her fortitude in pushing her work in what he vividly shows us was a man’s world.”

It is 1816, the Year without a Summer, and the greatest ghost story of all time is about to begin. But in order for that to happen, Mary must work through her self-doubts of womanhood, her place as a writer, her conflict with her dead mother, and Clara, always Clara there in her life, as well as Percy, Byron and the boyish advances of Dr. John Polidori.

Tucked away in Byron's villa in Switzerland, these five people are present at the inception of Mary
Wollstonecraft Shelley's "Frankenstein." Discover how a young girl becomes an independent
woman, a free thinker for the ages, navigates a complicated love life, and establishes herself as
one of the greatest female storytellers of all time — not to mention dealing with the ultimate bad
boy, Lord Byron.

Owen said he was captivated by Shelley's life, which had all the drama of a Victorian novel.

“In 2013, I sat in a gothic literature class reading the 1831 introduction to Shelley's 'Frankenstein,' where she discussed how the book came to be. And in that instant, a story began to form. Two years of research later I had the first draft of Creating Monsters. There have been many iterations since then.”

“This production highlights those days when Mary surrounds herself with the people who pushed
her to set her words free” said Potenza. “That she dared to push the boundaries of decency
and morality was a testament to her creative genius as well as her need to release her own inner
demons. As Mary herself wrote, ‘Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but
I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. Everywhere I see bliss,
from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good — misery made me a
fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous.’”

"Creating Monsters" runs for three weekends, through Sept. 11 at the LAB theater, 812 E Henderson Ave., Tampa. Live performances are Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. with a Sunday matinee at 3 p.m.

Performances will also be available on demand Sept. 1 through 15. Audience members who purchase on-demand tickets will be emailed a link to the video site. LAB reserves the right to adjust the number of seats available in response to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance to protect the health and wellbeing of the audience, cast and crew.

Tickets are $28 and are available through LAB’s website.