Black Box Theatre Company, a non-traditional theatrical troupe based in San Francisco, has announced plans for a World Premiere podcast of The Creature, a new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

The Creature will be taped before a live studio audience at San Francisco’s Magic Theatre (Fort Mason Center, Building D, Laguna at Marina Blvd ) on Monday, October 30 at 8pm. This one-night-only, live, concert-reading and digital recording of a new adaptation of Mary Shelley‚Äôs Frankenstein will then be podcast the next day, Halloween.

On October 31 at 5:00pm (West Coast Time), Halloween, the World Premiere of The Creature will be Podcast at the Black Box Theatre site.

“There are two sides to every tale, this is the creature’s story,” said Creature “creator” Trevor Allen, founder of Black Box Theatre Company.

‚ÄúBy telling the story from the creature‚Äôs point of view, we not only explore the ethical and scientific issues in the original story, but it also becomes a story about alienation and the effect of being outcast as an ‚Äòother‚Äô in society,” said director Kent Nicholson.

“It’s thrilling to be presenting this piece in a unique and interesting new media form,” exclaims Nicholson. “Something that theater does so rarely is to be at the forefront of new technologies. It’s exciting to see how this can become an effective way of storytelling. Like radio of old, maybe we can learn to inspire people’s imaginations in unique ways.”

‚ÄúAbsolutely,‚Äù agrees Allen. ‚ÄúI love old-time radio, the pictures are great. But this is not a radio play, this is something new. This is a live theatre piece intended for podcast. We want to embrace the live theatrical aspect of the event, attempting to capture lightning in a bottle and then use this new technology to extend the scope of the audience. It‚Äôs really a storytelling medium.‚Äù He also notes, ‚Äúthe take-up rate of new technologies is decreasing exponentially. Look at how long it took for people to go from radio to television. The same shift is happening today with people upgrading from digital audio-only MP3 players to digital video players, except it‚Äôs happening so much quicker now.”

Allen goes on to explain that the event even required new types of contracts. “This work even requires the use of a new national ‚Äúnew media‚Äù contract. Working with both the AFTRA and AEA unions on this project to allow the play to be podcast has been exciting. As far as we know, this will be the first time that a full-length play has ever been recorded specifically for podcast, in front of a live audience, by professional actors, in an actual Bay Area theatre.‚Äù

Admission to the October 30th podcast taping is free but reservations are required due to limited seating.