Flat Earth Theatre presents KING OF SHADOWS

Flat Earth Theatre concludes its 13th season “The Real Unreal” this June with Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s chilling modern fable, KING OF SHADOWS, directed by acclaimed local actor, director, and playwright Michael Hisamoto in his debut collaboration with Flat Earth.

When well-intentioned grad student Jessica invites streetwise runaway Nihar into her home, she unwittingly stumbles into a strange, sordid fantasy that imperils her otherwise idyllic life. The fanciful tale he weaves unveils a debauched realm of exploitation and terror that threatens to unravel Jessica’s worldview, but is any of it true, or merely the delusions of a troubled young mind? Playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, known to television audiences as the creative mind behind Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Riverdale, draws inspiration from A Midsummer Night's Dream to conjure a world more strange than true; a distempered fairyland which seeps through the cracks of reality.

“Everyone in KING OF SHADOWS is running from their past,” explains director Michael Hisamoto, “pasts which haunt them into making choices in an attempt to change the status quo. I see the people in my life making choices like this all the time: living in fear of the past, fear of failure, fear of loss, fear of being insignificant. … The play ultimately becomes a story of how we can run towards a better future instead of away from a painful past.”

Hisamoto, familiar to local audiences primarily for his work on stage as an actor, leads a cast featuring local actors Laura Chowenhill, Trinidad Ramkissoon, Abigail Erdelatz, and Matthew Crawford. “As I made the choice to move behind the table from a career as a professional actor to director, I now find myself confronted with this exact same reality: when is it time to take a leap of faith and how can we make that decision in hope, not fear?”

KING OF SHADOWS will run June 7, 2019 through June 22, 2019 at the Mosesian Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal Street in Watertown, MA. Tickets may be purchased for $25, or $12.50 for students at https://www.flatearththeatre.com/shows/season-13/king-of-shadows/.