31 Days of Halloween: Theater

October features at least three one-night only theatrical performances in Madison:

• Friday, October 19: Neighborhood House benefit with Mazer Comedy
• Saturday, October 20: Ultimate Improv
• Tuesday, October 30: Mercury Hot Pants

The first isn’t explicitly a Halloween show but it features some relevant elements, and the second is an improvised show so it could be about Halloween as well as anything else. The third will feature (very) short plays written by local writers in response to the theme of Halloween.

Looking outside Dane County, Royal Oak Productions presents a dramatic reading of Edgar Allen Poe stories in Whitewater October 19, 20, and 25 – 27. The performance will appear in Dane County November 2 and 3 at the Stoughton Center for the Performing Arts.

Details follow:

October 19: Neighborhood House benefit with Mazer Comedy. The young writers and performers of Mazer Comedy are helping out Madison’s oldest community center with a benefit performance of their show Airlines. Airlines isn’t explicitly a Halloween show, though it does have Frankenstein’s monster and a creepy Giving Tree. And towards the end the show features George W. Bush at the controls of a military aircraft, which some might find scarier. 7 p.m., 29 South Mills Street.

October 20: Ultimate Improv. Actor and Madison West High School graduate J.D. Walsh makes a return trip to his old high school with members of his LA comedy troupe Ultimate Improv for workshops followed by a performance. 7:30 p.m., 30 Ash Street. $5.

October 30: Mercury Hot Pants. The one- and three-page plays of Mercury Players Theatre’s monthly Hot Pants performances normally have simple costume and makeup needs, but for the October installment the producers have once again invited script submissions that reflect a Halloween theme. October will also likely feature an episode of Doug Reed’s WWII-era espionage thriller serial spoof The Flight of the Hindenburg, which started running in July. Mercury has an ongoing need for one-page (three characters max) and three-page (six characters max) plays, and invites writers to submit scripts to mercuryshortshorts -[at]- gmail -[dot]- com. 8 p.m., Mercury Lounge, 117 E. Mifflin Street, Madison. Free.

Also of interest is Royal Oak Productions’ Nightfall with Edgar Allen Poe, a dramatic reading of four Poe stories: “The Raven,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.” This event takes place outside the geographical bounds of Dane County during the 31 days of Halloween and outside the temporal bounds of the 31 days of Halloween when it’s in Dane County. Performances are 7:30 p.m. October 19, 20, and 25-27 at the Whitewater Cultural Arts Center, 402 West Main Street, and 7 p.m. November 2 and 3 at the Stoughton Center for the Performing Arts, 515 East Main Street. $10.