This is the published version of Christopher Cook's celebrated play, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, based on Washington Irving's haunting tale. The book commemorates the original High Voltage Theatre production of the play which premiered in Columbia, South Carolina in October of 2002.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow went on to play to record-breaking audiences and sell-out performances night after night in 2003 and then again in 2004 at the West Columbia Riverwalk Amphitheatre, where the show is now in production for an October 2007 show.
This is the one and only stage adaptation of the Irving classic which brought unprecedented attention to the entertainment venue at West Columbia's Riverwalk and built an audience base of hundreds of thousands, subsequently paving the way for local arts groups to capitalize on the publicity garnered by Cook's adaptation and the High Voltage production.
The High Voltage Theatre production, under the artistic direction of Mr. Cook, pioneered epic outdoor Halloween theatre in the Midlands area of Columbia, West Columbia, and Caycee. The River Alliance and its current arts groups associates earn substantial capital each October due to the original success and publicity generated by High Voltage Theatre, Christopher Cook and his mighty little script.
No live production of Washington Irving's tale, before or since, has lived up to the artistic quality of Cook's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, nor made such an impact on the community at large. As one public official from the state senate office declared: "Cook hasn't just put on a play, he has created a cultural phenomenon."
Available for the first time, this handsomely bound edition of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow presents all the splendor and mystery of Washington Irving's lyrical prose in dramatic form.
Beautifully adapted by award-winning playwright, Christopher Cook, this two-act stage version brings to life the eccentric characters and pastoral landscapes of Irving's timeless masterpiece.
In the peaceful little hamlet of Sleepy Hollow, all is not as it appears. For behind its genteel facade lies a dark secret that has long loomed over the bucolic community since the Revolutionary War.
The year is 1795. Our story revolves around the Christian souls who reside in a New England Dutch settlement adjacent to the Hudson river. As night falls and wolfen creatures cry out to a full moon, the inhabitants share cautionary tales of ghosts and goblins, a favorite being that of a Hessian soldier who was beheaded by cannon fire.
A stranger's arrival presages unusual events when Ichabod Crane, a journeyman schoolmaster, takes up residence in the quaint village. Fireside tales told him by the Hollow's wives prove prophetic as curses and spells seem to quicken around him like a witch's brew.
Fate plays an even darker role as his relations with Katrina, heiress apparent to the Van Tassel fortune, disintegrate. Courted by another suitor, the rough-edged Brom Bones, Katrina rebuffs the teacher's advances, opting instead for his formidable rival.
Enter the infamous headless horseman, wielding a razor-sharp scythe in one hand and a pumpkin in the other. Galloping wildly through brush and bramble, the goblin tears through the woodlands on a quest of revenge. An unforeseen encounter between Crane and horseman ultimately results in the pedagogue's mysterious disappearance.
With a host of Irvian characters as colorful as they are authentic, and a veritable tapestry of words painted in rich images, magic and suspense abound in this tale of dark humor and gothic horror. This play and its subsequent productions is certain to secure Cook's theatrical treatment as a bona fide Halloween classic in the annals of the American stage!
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