It’s fitting that Curio Theatre Company is staging The Mystery of Irma Vep – A Penny Dreadful a couple of days after Halloween. By the way, Irma Vep is an anagram. You should figure it out before you proceed.

American playwright Charles Ludlam wrote The Mystery of Irma Vep as a campy celebration of the horror genre. Characters in this three-act play include a werewolf, mummy, vampire and Egyptian princess. Only two actors play all of the characters, so the performance includes more than 30 super-quick costume changes. 

Steven Wright will direct The Mystery of Irma Vep – A Penny Dreadful. Local theatregoers might recognize him from Curio’s production of Othello, where he played the leading role, or as director of the recent Theatre in the X production of The Beast of Nubia.

“In this play, audiences can expect a little bit of everything: comedy, horror, mystery, drama, and even some romance,” Wright said. “I want the audience to come out to have a good time. I want them to be entertained and maybe think about the things people do and the lengths they’ll go to for love.”

The show, which kicks off Curio’s 2019-2020 season, has been previewing for a couple of nights and the opening is Saturday, Nov. 2 at 8 p.m. at the company’s home, the Calvary Center for Culture and Community at 4740 Baltimore Ave. Tickets are available here.