The Modern Stage and Broadway producers Sandi and Joe Black present a reading of Bloodletters, a comedy-thriller by Tom Sime, for potential investors and other theatre lovers. The reading is Tuesday, Oct. 26 at 7:15 p.m. at Pocket Sandwich Theatre, 5400 E. Mockingbird Lane, #119, in Dallas. Admission is free; R.S.V.P. to LoneStarStudios@yahoo.com for reserved seats or take your chances at the door, which opens at 6:15 p.m. for dinner and light refreshments (not included with free admission).

Carnage and comedy meet in Bloodletters when friction leaps out of a writer's computer. Grace, a successful author of scary stories, uses her family as unwilling models for characters in her sexy new work. Her husband's sexual frustration, her daughter's neurosis and her granddaughter's fascination with horror become amplified to deathly proportions in Grace's tale, taking audiences on a roller-coaster of laughter, shock and suspense, as these two worlds careen on parallel courses.

Elizabeth Van Winkle (left) and Cindee Mayfield Dobbs in the 2008 workshop of Bloodletters. Photo by George Wada.

A stellar Dallas-Fort Worth cast features Cindee Mayfield Dobbs, Dennis Millegan, Elizabeth Van Winkle, Trista Wyly, Andrew Dillon and Shane Strawbridge. Cindee and Elizabeth reprise their roles from the wild 2008 Dallas workshop. The actors each play two characters, in Grace's quiet suburban world, and in her story about an urban vampire playboy and his bitter henchman. Mr. Black directs.

Bloodletters was developed for more than three years, including readings and workshop productions in Dallas and Theatres at 45 Bleecker in New York City, where Tom is Writer in Residence. It had a tune-up reading with Tony and Drama Desk Award-winner Karen Ziemba last June. The producers plan an Off Broadway run in Spring 2011.

Sime says, "The character of Grace was inspired by Joyce Carol Oates," the bestselling novelist noted for disturbing violence in her fiction. The playwright idolized Oates and interviewed her while an arts writer at The Dallas Morning News. "I always wondered how such a meek-seeming, delicate person could imagine such mayhem. Did she tap into some alternate universe of Grand Guignol, or was the violence she dreamt up a grotesque metaphor for her own suppressed rage?" It was this question, rather than the life or works of Oates, that gave rise to the play.

Bloodletters was first presented by WingSpan Theatre Company in a staged reading directed by Robin Armstrong in 2007. Response from audiences and critics was intense and enthusiastic. Ms. Armstrong then directed the first workshop at Teatro Dallas, whipping the play into producible form. Modern Stage producing partner Adam Smith directed the New York workshop in May 2009.

Glenn Arbery of People Newspapers called the play "a domestic comedy routed through Anne Rice and Stephen King.... Audiences might be surprised at what lurks in Tom Sime's imagination. Let's just say it could make Quentin Tarantino wince."

Alexandra Bonifield wrote on Lakewood-Now.net: "Two threads of action, full of striking twists and turns and peopled with intriguing characters unfold in a riveting and sexually-charged plot that finally ties all loose ends together in a totally chilling, satisfying and unexpected manner. Hold on to your seats-it's a breathless ride from the moment the lights come up."

This play contains scandalous, irreverent language and is gory, with gay undertones, perfect for Off Broadway. No one under 18 will be admitted. Running time with intermission is about two hours. If you would like to view a Bloodletters prospectus, please contact the producers at LoneStarStudios@yahoo.com.