Starstruck (play)
Encyclopedia
This is the article on the play. For the comics series, see Starstruck (comics).

Starstruck is a 1980 science fiction comedy play written by Elaine Lee
Elaine Lee
Elaine Lee is an American actor, playwright, comic book colorist and comic book writer.-Theatre:She received a 1980 Daytime EMMY nomination for her role on NBC-TV’s The Doctors and was a founding member and artistic director of Manhattan-based theatre company, Wild Hair Productions.Wild Hair began...

, with contributions from Susan Norfleet Lee and Dale Place. It was performed in New York City in 1980 and 1983, and spawned an ongoing comics series and audioplays.

Plot

In a distant future, humanity has spread across the stars. In the wake of a toppled galactic dictator, a period of freeform chaos exists with factions from every side vying for control. The United Federation of Female Freedom Fighters have sent Captain Galatia 9 and her compatriots to ensure the safety of Glorianna, a charismatic leader who may tip the balance toward a just society. But Glorianna has been kidnapped by the villains on the ship Siren 3, commanded by Galatia's lifelong nemesis, Verloona Ti. The struggle between the two ships and their eccentric crews will decide the future of the universe.

Characters

  • Captain Galatia 9: The swashbuckling captain of the Female Freedom Fighter ship, the Harpy.
  • Brucilla the Muscle: The hotheaded mechanic, fighter, and pilot
  • Erotica Ann: The brilliant brain trapped in a sex droid body.
  • Sister Bronwyn of the Cosmic Veil: A befuddled psychic nun.
  • EEEEEEEEEluh: A merwoman empath.
  • Verloona: Leader of the villains, captain of the Siren 3.
  • Kalif Bajar: A fallen aristocrat and schemer.
  • Rah El Rex: A schizoid dandy.
  • Orga the Killer Cyborg: A beast enslaved by Verloona.
  • Norm: The computer for the Siren 3.
  • Dwannyun: A villain wanna-be who tries out as Zun the Warlord, Grad the Illegible, and Captain Chaos.

Background and creation

Elaine Lee
Elaine Lee
Elaine Lee is an American actor, playwright, comic book colorist and comic book writer.-Theatre:She received a 1980 Daytime EMMY nomination for her role on NBC-TV’s The Doctors and was a founding member and artistic director of Manhattan-based theatre company, Wild Hair Productions.Wild Hair began...

 earned a 1980 Daytime Emmy
Daytime Emmy Award
The Daytime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American daytime television programming...

 nomination for best supporting actress on NBC's soap opera "The Doctors". She then created the Wild Hair production company in Manhattan as an outlet for stronger roles for female actors. With her sister, Susan Norfleet Lee, she co-wrote two plays that they produced and starred in with their company: "Brief Cases" and "The Contamination of the Kokomo Lounge".

The third play, "Starstruck: A Space Opera", was written by Elaine Lee, with dialogue contributions from Susan Norfleet Lee and Dale Place, as a parody and tribute to science-fiction cliches. Elaine Lee attributes the huge success of Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

, a lifetime of 50's and 60's SF movies, feminist science fiction
Feminist science fiction
Feminist science fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction which tends to deal with women's roles in society. Feminist science fiction poses questions about social issues such as how society constructs gender roles, the role reproduction plays in defining gender and the unequal political and...

 novels, and a predominantly female cast as major influences on her approach to the script.

The Lee sisters met illustrator Michael Wm. Kaluta, who volunteered to do the poster. As the play came together, Kaluta also designed the costumes and sets, with some assistance from Fantasy artist Charles Vess
Charles Vess
Charles Vess is an American fantasy artist and comic-book illustrator who has specialized in the illustration of myths and fairy tales. His illustrations are strongly influenced by the work of artists and illustrators such as Arthur Rackham and Alphonse Mucha...

.

While Elaine announced an intention to film the 1983 production on video, the main record of the two stage productions are photos by Sean Smith.

1980 Production

The first Off Off Broadway production of "Starstruck" was at the N.E.T.W.O.R.K. Theater, from April 16-May 10, 1980.

The N.E.T.W.O.R.K. Theater production was co-directed by Ken Bush and Martha Lee. Kathy K. Gerber was the Assistant Director, with Choreography by Martha Lee; Set by Michael Wm. Kaluta and Mark Di Quinzio; Costumes by Michael Wm. Kaluta, with additional Costume and Prop Construction by Charles Vess
Charles Vess
Charles Vess is an American fantasy artist and comic-book illustrator who has specialized in the illustration of myths and fairy tales. His illustrations are strongly influenced by the work of artists and illustrators such as Arthur Rackham and Alphonse Mucha...

; Music and Sound Effects by Dwight Dixon; and Lights by Mark Di Quinzio.

Cast
  • Elaine Lee
    Elaine Lee
    Elaine Lee is an American actor, playwright, comic book colorist and comic book writer.-Theatre:She received a 1980 Daytime EMMY nomination for her role on NBC-TV’s The Doctors and was a founding member and artistic director of Manhattan-based theatre company, Wild Hair Productions.Wild Hair began...

     as Captain Galatia 9
  • Susan Norfleet Lee as Brucilla the Muscle
  • Karen Bebb as Erotica Ann
  • Kathy K. Gerber as Sister Bronwyn of the Cosmic Veil
  • Laurie Gittleman as EEEEEEEEEluh
  • Sandra Spurney as Verloona
  • Paul Ratkevich as Kalif Bajar
  • Neal Ashmun as Rah El Rex
  • Ruth Henderson as Orga the Killer Cyborg
  • Paul Van Antwerp as The Great Disruptor; The Voice of Norm
  • Joanne Joseph as The Great Mother
  • Dale Place as Dwannyun/ Zun the Warlord/ Grad the Illegible/ Captain Chaos


Production notes

Elaine Lee's portrayal of Galatia 9 and Susan Norfleet Lee's Brucilla the Muscle became immortalized by artist Kaluta as the characters' permanent likenesses in the ongoing comics series.

Kathy K. Gerber was Assistant Director as well as playing the addled nun, Sister Bronwyn.

1983 Production

The second "Starstruck" production was at the Park Royal Theater, from April 16-May 8, 1983.

The Park Royal Theater production was Directed by Elaine Lee, with Sets and Costumes by Michael Wm. Kaluta; Music and Sound Effects by Dwight Dixon; Lights by Adam Teichman and Earle Brokenshire; Video Segments by Bo Johnson; and Fight Choreography by Frank Lee.

Cast
  • Gerry Martin as Captain Galatia 9
  • Mary Lynn Hetsko as Brucilla the Muscle
  • Karen Bebb as Erotica Ann
  • Vicki Juditz as Sister Bronwyn of the Cosmic Veil
  • Suzanne Parke as EEEEEEEEEluh
  • Georgia Harrell as Verloona
  • Paul Ratkevich as Kalif Bajar
  • James Leach as Rah El Rex
  • Wyatt Baker as Orga the Killer Cyborg
  • Peter S. Feliz as The Voice of Norm
  • Dale Place as Dwannyun/ Zun the Warlord/ Grad the Illegible/ Captain Chaos


Production notes

In the second production, The Great Disruptor and The Great Mother were revised out of the script.

A song called "Those Crazy Stars" was added for Brucilla and Dwannyun to sing; the lyrics were by Elaine Lee and music by Dwight Dixon.

Karen Bebb, Dale Place, and Paul Ratkevich returned in their roles from the original production.

Karen Bebb's Erotica Ann became the template for the character's physical appearance in the comics, and by extension, also the appearance of Queen Glorianna.

Suzanne Park was a mime artist. Her movements to simulate the merwoman EEEEEEEEEluh's drifting in the water tank inspired Kaluta and Charles Vess to add more to the set for her to maneuver herself.

2009 Reading

On August 15, 2009, the Starstruck play was performed as a live reading in Big Sur, California, for a charity performance benefitting ailing comics artist Gene Colan
Gene Colan
Eugene Jules "Gene" Colan was an American comic book artist best known for his work for Marvel Comics, where his signature titles include the superhero series, Daredevil, the cult-hit satiric series Howard the Duck, and The Tomb of Dracula, considered one of comics' classic horror series...

. The reading was intended also as a rehearsal in preparation for an intended audioplay cast performance the following year.

In attendance were author Elaine Lee, colorist Lee Moyer
Lee Moyer
Lee Moyer is an American painter, illustrator, graphic designer, Web designer, and comic book painter and designer.-Biography:Lee Moyer began his initial painting training using the mediums of watercolor and oils. In 1989, he expanded into the digital art realm, which has become his premiere medium...

, artist Brent Anderson
Brent Anderson
Brent Anderson is an American comic book artist known for his work on X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills and the comic book series Astro City.- Early life :...

, Karen Bebb Stillwell who originally played Erotica Ann, and Ruth Henderson Locke who originally played Orga the Killer Cyborg.

2010 Audioplay

The Starstruck play script was adapted as an audioplay in 2010, and recorded and released by the AudioComics Company.

The Starstruck audioplay production was adapted by Elaine Lee; Direction and Sound Design by William Dufris; Original Music and Arrangements by Dwight Dixon; Post Production by William Dufris and Anthony S. Marino; Engineered (for The Studio) by Efra Becerra-Avilez and Steve Drown; Recorded at The Sudio, Portland, Maine; Produced by the AudioComics company in association with Portland Community Radio WMPG FM.

Cast
  • Tavia Gilbert as Captain Galatia 9
  • Jennywren Sanders as Brucilla the Muscle
  • Kristina Balbo as Erotica Ann
  • Genevieve Casagrande as Sister Bronwyn of the Cosmic Veil
  • Charly Duley as EEEEEEEEEluh
  • Denise Poirier
    Denise Poirier
    Denise Poirier is an American voice actress best known for playing the character of Æon Flux in the MTV animated series of the same name.She also had prominent roles in Reign: The Conqueror, HBO's Spawn, and the English version of Golgo 13: Queen Bee, the Vampire Hunter D video game, as well as...

     as Verloona
  • Brent Askari as Kalif Bajar
  • James Herrera as Rah El Rex
  • Lance Roger Axt as The Voice of Norm
  • William Dufris as as Dwannyun/ Zun the Warlord/ Grad the Illegible/ Captain Chaos; Orga the Killer Cyborg
  • Kym Dakin as E-V
  • Evadne Bryan-Perkins as Gyndal Q
  • Brennan Lee Mulligan as Jimmy the Snout
  • Simon Vance as the Narrator


Production notes

In the audioplay production, a new prelude set the background for the story and additional revisions were made to the main script for story clarity as a sound production. The prelude featured actor Brennan Lee Mulligan, Elaine Lee's son, as Jimmy the Snout, previously only seen in the comics. "The play was very visual and physical, lots of slapstick humor," Elaine Lee explained about readapting the script. "It all had to be verbal for the audio version."

The villain leader Verloona was played by Denise Poirier
Denise Poirier
Denise Poirier is an American voice actress best known for playing the character of Æon Flux in the MTV animated series of the same name.She also had prominent roles in Reign: The Conqueror, HBO's Spawn, and the English version of Golgo 13: Queen Bee, the Vampire Hunter D video game, as well as...

, known for being the voice of Aeon Flux in the animated series.

The audioplay was the first time Dwight Dixon's original score could be heard by the mass public, outside of the first two stage productions.

The Starstruck audioplay production recording was sold as a download and a double CD in October, 2010.

The audioplay was also released to radio, where it was first broadcast by WMPG, Portland, Maine, on February 10 and 17, 2011.

The production was announced by the AudioComics Company as being the first in a series, with at least two new Starstruck audioplays to be written by Elaine Lee in the future. In April, 2011, the second called "Running Scared" will be recorded for release as a free download later in the year.

Recording

The 2010 Starstruck audioplay production was made available for sale as MP3 downloads from iTunes, Amazon MP3, Amazon MP3 UK, CD Baby, ZBS, Napster, Microsoft Zune, and the AudioComics Company in October, 2010. A double-disc CD was also made available through CD Baby and ZBS.

Script

The Starstruck script was printed by Broadway Play Publishing, Inc., in March, 1985, and is still available. ISBN 0-88145-023-5

Michael Wm. Kaluta's poster was reproduced on the cover, as well as the six character pieces from the Starstruck limited edition portfolio supplemented by six new character pieces. A color section showcased Sean Smith's photos from both productions.

Portfolio

Michael Wm. Kaluta created portraits of six of the characters. These were published as a "Starstruck Portfolio" in 1980 as a limited edition of 2000, by Sal Q. Producitons; the 11" x 14" works were printed in black-and-white, sealed in an envelope with a cover of the Starstruck stage play poster, and hand-numbered and autographed by Kaluta.

Reception

The Starstruck play received coverage in the magazines Starlog
Starlog
Starlog was a monthly science-fiction film magazine published by Starlog Group Inc. The magazine was created by publishers Kerry O'Quinn and Norman Jacobs. O'Quinn was the magazine's editor while Jacobs ran the business side of things, dealing with typesetters, engravers and printers. They got...

 (#41, December 1980) and Heavy Metal
Heavy Metal (magazine)
Heavy Metal is an American science fiction and fantasy comics magazine, known primarily for its blend of dark fantasy/science fiction and erotica. In the mid-1970s, while publisher Leonard Mogel was in Paris to jump-start the French edition of National Lampoon, he discovered the French...

 (#8311, November 1983), both featuring interviews with Lee and Kaluta, artwork, and Smith's photos.

The Starstruck audioplay has received favorable reviews in online articles. Audiophile Magazine called it "a swashbuckling feminist joyride" and praised its humor as "a raucous comedy that breaks all the rules". The Charleston Gazette wrote that it was "considerably more evolved than a traditional radio drama", and that its complexity meant that "jokes fly by so fast that repeated listenings will be warranted." Club Parnassus expressed their admiration of the subject matter saying "... if there’s a stage play out there featuring the wild and ribald adventures of four female space rangers, why is this not performed as often as The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...

?" Audiophile, The Charleston Gazette, Club Parnassus, The Discriminating Fangirl, and Axiom's Edge each made favorable comparisons of the script and players to Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...

' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon...

.

Prequels and sequels

A prequel series of Starstruck comics stories was created by Elaine Lee and Michael Wm. Kaluta detailing the backstories of the characters before the play. The first stories, written by Lee and illustrated by Kaluta, premiered in the adult Spanish SF anthology magazine, Ilustracion+Comix Internacional, in 1982. The stories were subsequently printed for the first time in America in Heavy Metal
Heavy Metal (magazine)
Heavy Metal is an American science fiction and fantasy comics magazine, known primarily for its blend of dark fantasy/science fiction and erotica. In the mid-1970s, while publisher Leonard Mogel was in Paris to jump-start the French edition of National Lampoon, he discovered the French...

 from 1982 to 1983. A collected graphic novel, Starstruck: The Luckless, Abandoned and Forsaked, was printed by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

 in 1984, followed by six new Starstruck issues in their Epic Comics
Epic Comics
Epic Comics was a creator-owned imprint of Marvel Comics started in 1982, lasting through the mid-1990s, and being briefly revived on a small scale in the mid-2000s.- Origins :...

 line. These stories were extensively revised and expanded in the four issue Starstruck: The Expanding Universe series from Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...

 in 1990. In 2009, IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing, also known as Idea + Design Works, LLC and IDW, is an American publisher of comic books and comic strip collections. The company was founded in 1999 and has been awarded the title "Publisher of the Year Under 5% Market Share" for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 by Diamond Comic...

 began remastering the Starstruck stories with newly-expanded art by Kaluta and new color by painter Lee Moyer in a series of 13 issues, and a hardcover collected omnibus called the Starstruck Deluxe Edition was released on March 29, 2011. ISBN 1-60010-872-5

After the Starstruck audioplay recording, a new story was written by Elaine Lee for a second recording called "Starstruck: Running Scared". This production returned Denise Poirier as Verloona and Brennan Lee Mulligan as Jimmy the Snout. In addition, the comedy troupe Pink Axe played the Galactic Girl Guides, along with actors cast from auditions at the 2011 I-Con
I-CON
I-CON is a yearly fan convention, held on the campus of the State University of New York at Stony Brook on Long Island, in Suffolk County, New York. First held in 1982, I-CON has become a very eclectic convention...

convention. The recording will be released by the Audiocomics Company as a free MP3 download later in 2011.

External links



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