Thursday, January 27, 2011

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Crossover with Sniglets

DOORK (dawrk) - n. A "Sleep No More" audience member who watches a scene directly in front of a door or entryway, thus inadvertently ensuring that if a performer runs out of the room that other audience members will be unable to adequately follow that performer.

MOREFENING (mor' fen ing) - v. The act of taking a beloved, mind-bendingly great show and trivializing it by crossing it over with tired pop culture references.

ONGLER (on-glar) - n. A "Sleep No More" audience member who stands in a specific spot during a specific scene in the hopes of getting a one-on-one interaction.

PERSPASKERATION (per-spask-er-a-shon) - n. The sweat that forms around one's face after wearing the mask for over two hours.

RAISINFORE (ray-zin-for) - v. To eat raisins an hour or two before going to see "Sleep No More".

TOTHAURITY (toe-thor-ity) - n. The sense of entitlement an audience member or volunteer feels in terms of assuming that he or she is the sole arbiter of how a show can be discussed online.

ZIGNOMORE (zig-no-mor) v. To get the David Bowie song "Ziggy Stardust" stuck in your head while waiting in the "Sleep No More" entry line.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Monday, January 10, 2011

Crossover with "Dear Mr. Henshaw"

May 12

Dear Mr. Henshaw,

Mrs. Danvers read your book about the dog to me. It was funny. I licked it.

Your freind,
Malcolm (boy)

December 3

Dear Mr. Henshaw,

I am the boy who wrote to you last year. Maybe you didn't get my letter. I'm always finding mountains of letters from my friend Macbeth to his wife lying around, so I'm not sure if the mail ever leaves the abandoned school I live in. It's the same letter from Macbeth every time, too, and it's filled with weird language like "This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner in greatness" - pretty weird, huh?

This year I read the book I wrote to you about called Ways to Amuse a Dog. It is the first thick book with chapters that I have read. I got it from the bookshelf at the MacDuffs' place. Lady MacDuff is expecting a baby!

If you answer I get to put your letter on the bulletin board in my detective office.

Keep in tutch.

Your friend,
Malcolm

November 13

Dear Mr. Henshaw,

I made a diorama of my Dad, Duncan, dancing with Mrs. Danvers. I saw them dancing after I thought my Dad was dead, so it was kind of weird but also kind of cool. Please would you write to me in your own handwriting? I am a great enjoyer of your books.

Your best reader,
Malcolm

December 2

Dear Mr. Henshaw,

My Dad thought my jaunty beret looked stupid and told me not to wear it but instead I hide it and wear it when he's not around. Joke's on him. Only you understand me, Mr. Henshaw. I bet you'd never tell me that my jaunty beret looks stupid.

Your favorite reader,
Malcolm

Enclosure: Bloody playing card. (We are studying business letters.)

Friday, January 7, 2011

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Crossover with "Star Trek: The Next Generation"

Crossover with "Star Trek", kind of

We're going to dip into the email bag today, with a letter from James Craig Burley, who has a request for a "Sleep No More" crossover fan fiction:

Subject: Crossover Request: "Star Trek"

So are you up to doing this? I know you've done Star Wars already, but ST:TOS ("The Original Series") has some awesome episodes to tie in, or maybe you could pick just one.

If going the multi-episode route, here are some plot elements, characters, etc. to consider:
  • "Mudd's Women": The three women could be witches, who need a special potion to...look beautiful, know how to dance, avoid chatting too much, know the future, etc.
  • "What Are Little Girls Made Of?": MacBeth is replaced with an android...by Lady MacBeth
  • "The Conscience of the King": Shakespearean actor; murder; former governor of a planet; almost writes itself!
  • "Shore Leave": Enterprise cast beams down to a seemingly-idyllic planet...and end up on the SNM set, forced to wear white masks...and red shirts!! They're all going to die!!
  • "Mirror, Mirror": SNM cast members with goatees...makes me giggle like a little girl just thinking about it. Meanwhile, SNM characters (or actors?) find themselves in uniform and corresponding roles on the Enterprise, and have to fly the ship while figuring out how to get home (and what is up with Spock and those ears)
  • "Catspaw": Perhaps too obvious?
  • "Journey to Babel": This might be interesting made into an episode "told" SNM-style
  • "Spectre of the Gun": The ST:TOS cast is forced to re-enact SNM instead of the OK Corral shoot-out
  • "The Tholian Web": Kirk is caught in a janitor's closet by Hecate, who tells him a sad story, while the crew tries to find him and also extricate the ship from the "web" of a tale spun by SNM
  • "Whom Gods Destroy": Also perhaps too obvious, because it has Shakespeare, dancing, insanity, etc., but why not? Almost writes itself....
Okay, clearly I'm not doing work I should be doing (the downside of working at home instead of in an office with glass walls and doors), but here's another possibility: do a "semi-serious" retelling of SNM within the plot arc of "City on the Edge of Forever":
  • It's one of the best ST:TOS episodes ever
  • It had Joan Collins
  • It had time travel
  • It had prophecies (after a fashion)
  • It had death and destruction
  • Spock could use various SNM set-prop items to make the tricorder work (dead animal carcasses, playing cards, Frusen Gladje ice cream, Hecate's ring, ...)
  • Both Kirk and Spock refuse to bathe due to the live eel in the bathtub
  • Kirk could be an audience member asked by Banquo to kill MacBeth, Spock sees a dubious future with Scotland becoming a world power instead of the US and everyone having to play golf and eat haggis for dinner
  • Kirk stops McCoy from preventing Duncan's assassination
(Hmm, this takes me back to my childhood days when we used to make up stuff like this all the time, record "plays" on cassette tapes...good times!)

Have fun!

James,

Thanks for writing (and for giving us permission to use your email on the blog) - the truth is that there is no way we could top the scenarios presented in your letter, particularly since our knowledge of "Star Trek" is pretty spotty. We'll try and get something together involving "The Next Generation" by the end of the week.

Yours,
The Sleep No More Crossover Fan Fiction Blog

Monday, January 3, 2011

Crossover with "Grey Gardens"

In the Old Lincoln School, the documentary crew continued interviewing Hecate, sitting on Duncan's bed, and the Bald Witch, standing to the right.

The Bald Witch had been telling a story about the other witches.

"But you see in dealing with me, the other witches didn't know that they were dealing with a staunch character and I tell you if there's anything worse than dealing with a staunch witch... S-T-A-U-N-C-H. There's nothing worse, I'm telling you. They don't weaken, no matter what."

The documentary crew asked the Bald Witch about the clothes she was wearing. Hecate muttered in the background about how she had been a fantastic singer when she was younger. "Quiet, Hecate darling," the Bald Witch admonished. Then she pointed to her outfit.

"This is the best thing to wear for today, you understand. Because I don't like women in skirts and the best thing is to wear pantyhose or some pants under a short skirt, I think. Then you have the pants under the skirt and then you can pull the stockings up over the pants underneath the skirt. And you can always take off the skirt and use it as a cape. So I think this is the best costume for today. Do you think my costume looks all right for all those silent people in white masks?"

"They've probably seen it before," the filmmaker replied.

"No, no, this is the revolutionary costume! I never wear this in East Hampton!"

"I was going to take a bath later," said Hecate. "But I asked Bald Witch to take the live eel out of the tub and she never got around to it."

"I've been busy!" Bald Witch yelled. "Busy with my dancing! Do you think my dancing looks funny? I do terrific dances. I could have danced professionally if I didn't have to stay here and look after Hecate. The other witches all left. I was stuck here. You can't have your Frusen Glädjé and eat it too in life." The Bald Witch sighed. Hecate perked up at the mention of Frusen Glädjé.

"Oh, yes, I did. I did. I had my Frusen Glädjé, loved it, masticated it, chewed it and had everything I wanted."