‘Frankenstein’ joins the safe streaming-theater club

Giles Davies’ remarkable performance in Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus deserved a much wider audience.

The chameleon-like Tampa actor’s one-man show was presented just five times in the Straz Center’s Jaeb Theatre, which for safety reasons was operating at dramatically reduced capacity. As such, even though all shows were sold out, or very nearly so, just 500 folks got to see it.

Co-producing Jobsite Theatre pulled an ace out of its collective sleeve by announcing that Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus had, in fact, been video-recorded. And that it’s available for streaming here through Dec. 3.

“At a time when so little theater is occurring (out of necessity and caution), I was humbled to be given the chance,” Davies said in an email. “I really felt the Straz had done everything in their power to make it as safe as possible, but even then, people had to be willing to take the chance. They did, and I can only hope they felt it was worth the risk, a ‘ride’ not to be missed.”

The actorly experience, he explained, was certainly different – there was little rehearsal time, for one, and not enough to iron out any potential “speed bumps” that might come up during the live performances. “The nerves on opening are always a bit frayed, less so on following performances,” Davies said, “but I’ve always thought that if that were not the case, it would be time to try my hand at something else.”

Also available for your streaming pleasure is I And You, the Lauren Gunderson drama that went out live Sunday from Tampa Repertory Theatre. Check out this two-person marvel here.

As American Stage gets ready to unveil Jerry Montoya’s specially-commissioned Nosotros La Gente (starting Dec. 2), the St. Pete drama house continues to stream Kate: The Unimagined Life of Katharine Hepburn (through Nov. 30).

Sign up to watch the remarkable Janis Stevens “become” the reflective 92-year-old Hepburn here.

The California-based Stevens, who previously appeared (live) at American Stage in Marjorie Prime and Long Day’s Journey Into Night, is something of a legend for her dramatic one-woman shows.

As an actor, she told the Catalyst in a story published Nov. 10, “you have to bring yourself to your work. Because that’s what makes your rendition of Blanche DuBois different from the next person’s. Because it’s what you’re bringing, personally, to the choices in the role.

“And you have to do the same thing when you’re playing somebody who has been a living personality.”