New Adaptation of Frankenstein to be Staged at Congressional Cemetery

Maryland-based playwright and long-time professor of theatre at Bowie State University, Bob Bartlett, is no stranger to staging his work in unusual locations. A few years ago, he premiered his time-bending romantic comedy, The Accident Bear, which sold out its five-week run to critical acclaim, at a working coin-operated laundromat in historic downtown Annapolis, Maryland. During Covid he staged his play Three Strangers Sitting Around a Backyard Firepit at Two in the Morning Listening to Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska in his central Maryland backyard, and recently premiered a romcom about browsing for love and vinyl in the digital age, Love and Vinyl, in record stores in Annapolis, Dallas, and Washington, DC (Union Market's Byrdland Records in the spring of 2025). Lýkos Ánthrōpos, his play about lycanthropy and a ghostly interaction between a werewolf and his victim, sold-out last Halloween while staged for a month among the graves at Washington, DC's historic Congressional Cemetery. He returns this fall to Congressional Cemetery with a new adaptation of the novel Frankenstein - Mary Shelley's Monsters - which will run for 18 performances in the historic chapel at the cemetery.

The Helen Hayes Award-winning Bartlett says the idea to create site-specific theatre, which he believes has the potential to engage audiences in more immediate ways than theatre staged in traditional spaces, came while he was living in a downtown walk-up on Maryland Avenue in Annapolis over a decade ago. "I've always been drawn to theatre produced in unique locations," he notes. "And more than simply Shakespeare in the park." Always on the lookout for compelling locations where acts of theatre and storytelling can happen, Bartlett often writes with specific spaces in mind. "I'd long dreamed of inviting audiences to walk into the woods to see one of my plays happening in a clearing." His dream happened in the fall of 2022 when he staged Lýkos Ánthrōpos on a farm near his home in central Maryland before moving the production to Congressional Cemetery in the nation's capital.

Bartlett wrote his new play, Mary Shelley's Monsters, this summer while in residency with NYC's La MaMa Umbria International at their restored 700-year-old convent in the heart of the Umbrian hills in Italy. The retreat afforded him the time to study Shelley's life and novel, which he uses to tell his meta three-hander, an exploration of creation mythology from the perspectives of the writer and her creations. "Frankenstein," he proclaims, "is everywhere these days, from recent and coming theatre productions here in Washington to Guillermo del Toro's new film adaptation hitting theaters this fall, largely inspired by present ears of technological advancements such as AI, which will alter the ways we live, work, and play."

He adds that he "set out to write a poetic exploration of that fear, then and now, of science, progress, and death." "Death", he notes, "death anxiety is the true horror at the center of Shelley's novel and life, which was tragically impacted from the postpartum death of her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft (author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman); and the deaths of four of her five children and her husband, romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley."

When audiences come upon the performance of Mary Shelley's Monsters at the small chapel at the center of Congressional Cemetery, located on 35 acres in southeast, Washington, DC, on Capital Hill, they will witness an incantation, as Bartlett's Shelley conjures literary creations from over 200 years ago, which seem as important and frightening as in 1818 when the gothic novel premiered. Adding to the production's earnestness, just feet away from the chapel is buried Mary Fuller, the early film actress who was born in Washington, DC, in 1888 and starred in the first film of Frankenstein, created by the Edison Film Company in 1910.

Bartlett notes his considerable fear of the process of writing his adaptation: "At one point, the immensity of the task crushed me as so many great writers and thinkers have tackled Shelley's novel and life. I did not want to write another adaptation which retells the plot of the novel, or one that recounts the infamous literary history of the novel's creation - nor one that retells Mary's life; so I mashed together the three in a meta exploration of Shelley and her novel." He adds that he "often writes inspired by location and geography, and Mary Shelley's Monsters is no different." "I was able to write for a week in the chapel before leaving for Italy. Writing in the space, which seats fifty or so, was inspiring, as is the quote above the chapel's alter: 'I am the resurrection and the life.'" "The opportunity to share the play with audiences at Congressional Cemetery," he adds, "is truly special; opening the run of the play in the fall as we approach spooky season will be thrilling."

"At Congressional Cemetery," adds Anthony Orlikoff, the Cemetery's Interim Executive Director, "we often say that history comes to life. As the proud producers of Soul Strolls, we are always looking for additional ways to support the arts and artists. We are proud to work with Bob Bartlett, who we partnered with last fall to host his acclaimed Lýkos Ánthrōpos. This year, we are happy to welcome him back to bring Mary Shelley's Monsters to life."

Mary Shelley's Monsters will run for eighteen performances from September 18 - October 12, 2025 at Congressional Cemetery, 1801 E St SE, Washington, DC 20003.