Mystery Mark

The Fabulous Hugh Bickley cooked this animation up based on a scene in Mystery Mark!

The Midlife Dragon from Hugh Bickley on Vimeo.

Thanks to our 100 magnificent backers, co-conspirators, and word-spreaders far and wide, the Mystery Mark Kickstarter was a great success. Now it’s time for a summer of serious challenges and hard work as we start building the heck out of the production.

Theo recently finished the front cover of the book, and here it is!

We’re also excited to announce dates for the Theatrical Installation’s first performance as part of the Zootown Fringe Festival.

Location:Downtown Dance Collective, 121 W. Main St, Missoula, MT

Show Times:
Thurs 8/14 : 7pm – 8pm
Fri 8/15 : 7pm – 8pm
Sat 8/16 : 9:30pm – 10:30pm

The performance will be on a loop. Come for the entire show or walk in/out anytime.

I like to think I tricked Theo Ellsworth into collaborating with me.

Theo and I first met nearly 15 years ago through a mutual friend. We sat on my kitchen floor and he showed me the book he was working on. His story featured a typically bizarre Theo world, and it featured bees. My earliest memory is a bee sting. I’d just written the first draft of Periphery Stowe, in which several of the main characters are bees. Never one to let a good coincidence go to waste, I told Theo that someday we had create a story together.

Theo moved back to Missoula last year while I was bumming around Europe. When I got home the first thing I did was track him down. I’ve made a few attempts to collaborate with Theo over the years, but that man’s a workhorse, and he was always neck deep in his own projects, so it never worked out.

This time I had a plan.

I cornered him at his table at the Made Fair and said, “Okay, what if you go into your studio, drag out 10 or 15 old drawings that you like but that don’t have a home. I’ll build a story out of what I see.”

Theo told me he liked the idea and that he’d see what he could dig up. Meanwhile, Viscosity and I were busy trying to figure out how to develop an expanded version of our show, Thisillusionment, for the fall. What we wanted to do turned out to be too big to accomplish in one year. Our designer Scott Morris was getting into masks and puppetry, and here I saw huge crossover potential with Theo’s work. I thought maybe we could assassinate a couple birds with the same rock.

A few months ago Scott and I met up with Theo in Charlie B‘s in Missoula. Theo had already made up his mind to work with us, but instead of using old drawings, he wanted to start from scratch. None of us had the first clue what our story would be about. Theo would create illustrations and I would write around them, then Scott would build our world in three dimensions.

Theo had the first drawings with him that day at the bar. He handed each of us a manilla envelope with “?” written on the outside. “It’s a mystery mark,” I said, and the title was born before anyone knew why.

Over the next several weeks Theo and I bounced ideas back and forth using words and images until characters and their stories started crawling into the light. The process was subconscious and weirdly organic. Theo kept drawing pages as I worked our concepts into a novella and three versions of a script. As Scott started to dream up inventive stage, mask, and puppet designs, director Rebecca Schaffer and dramaturge Kate Morris dove into conceptual development, and a first phase installation started coming together.

Since then the project has exploded into the eager and willing of the arts community. We have a brilliant creative and organizational crew and a steady stream of volunteers. There’s a book to produce, a show to plan, departments to inspire, and a crowd funding campaign to run. Orchestrating this thing has turned into a full time job.

So maybe I didn’t trick Theo after all; maybe he tricked me.

Mystery Mark is a cartoon exorcism. It’s the story of Clay, a man who is being stalked by the star of his favorite childhood television show. Clay, who desperately wants to surgically alter his terrified facial expression, thinks a physical fix will help him deal with his emotional problems. All he wants is to escape his anxiety and settle into a normal life, but there’s a voice in his head who has different plans…

(Kickstart with us!)

The theatrical side of Mystery Mark will involve a wide collaboration of creators: writers, illustrators, designers, filmmakers, animators, actors, musicians, and masters of the organizational arts. We’re hip deep into a Kickstarter campaign to help provide the resources we need to complete the first two pieces of Mystery Mark’s journey: the illustrated book and the theatrical installation.

The installation: A looping theatrical installation incorporates the main characters and themes from the story–with actors, masks, and puppets–and features an original score by long-time Missoula band, “Cash For Junkers“. Funding will support design, build, rehearsal space rental and other production costs including set pieces, costumes, masks, puppets, and props.

The Mystery Mark Installation will open during the Missoula Fringe Festival in August, 2014, and feature an original score by long-time Missoula band, Cash For Junkers. You can get a taste for their music on our latest video.

THANK YOU to everyone who has joined us on this path! We’re overwhelmed by the level of support gravitating to this project, and we’re dedicated to living up to your faith in us.

Production has begun: from writing, to illustration, to set, mask, and costume design. Our partnering band, “Cash For Junkers” has started scoring the music, and we’ve had countless volunteers helping us as we experiment with prototypes and work through this campaign. This video update gives a taste of our process so far. And if that’s not enough flavor for you, here are a couple work-in-progress photos:

We also bring an exciting announcement. Our cast for the theatrical installation has fallen into place. We proudly welcome actors Jeff Medley, Margi Cates, and Ann Peacock to the team!

We’ll bring you new artwork and more announcements over the next several days. For now we leave you with this image from the book. You’ve probably seen parts of it before, but here’s the first full page Theo drew, before we even had an idea what the story would be about.

Thank you all so much for kicking it with us as we work toward making Mystery Mark a reality.

Next Update: The Story behind the Story….

Kickstart Mystery Mark with us!

It all began when Theo Ellsworth met with Scott Morris and Josh Wagner in Charlie B’s to talk about doing a new show together. Theo already had the first illustrations. He brought them in two manilla envelopes that had a “?” written on the outside. “It’s a mystery mark,” Josh said, and the story’s title was born before any of them knew what it would be about.

Over the next few months Theo and Josh conspired with imagery, characters, and concepts until the story of Clay emerged in a process both creators describe as “organic and subconscious”. Theo kept working on illustrations as Josh transformed the concepts into a narrative. Three drafts of a play were written. As Scott worked out stage, mask, and puppet designs, director Rebecca Schaffer and dramaturge Kate Morris dove into conceptual development, and a first phase installation began to take shape.

Mystery Mark is a cartoon exorcism. It’s the story of Clay, a man who is being stalked by the star of his favorite childhood television show. Clay desperately wants to surgically alter his terrified facial expression because he thinks it will help him deal with his emotional problems. He just wants to get past his anxiety and settle into a normal life, but the voice in his head has different plans.

Mystery Mark will be the result of a collaboration between a wide variety of creators: writers, illustrators, designers, filmmakers, animators, actors, musicians, and masters of the organizational arts.

A Kickstarter Campaign has launched to help provide the resources we need to complete the book and theatrical installation:

The book: An 80-100 page illustrated novella with a full-color cover, written by Josh Wagner and illustrated by Theo Ellsworth. Funds will allow us to have the book professionally edited, designed, printed, and promoted.

The installation: A looping theatrical installation incorporates the main characters and themes from the story–with actors, masks, and puppets–and features an original score by long-time Missoula band, “Cash For Junkers”. Funding will support design, build, rehearsal space rental and other production costs including set pieces, costumes, masks, puppets, and props.

Mystery Mark will launch as part of the Missoula Fringe Festival in August, 2014. Following the debut, Viscosity plans to continue development and take this show on the road.