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PONTYPOOL

BY TONY BURGESS

1 NIGHT ONLY: OCTOBER 31st, 2025

Magenta Theater presents this horror novel adaptation for the stage, Pontypool by Tony Burgess, as a Black Chair Project staged reading. Director Luke Dowell's directing debut, the reading will feature special effects to enhance the experience for a one-of-a-kind theatrical evening at Magenta!

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CREATIVE TEAM

Director: Luke Dowell
Production Manager: Mary Thomas
Costume Designer: Laurie Robertson
Makeup Designer: Merasi Dudlik
Sound Designer: Jaime Fields 

SYNOPSIS

In the sleepy town of Pontypool no one is safe from a mysterious new virus so devastating it will leave you literally speechless. Based on "Pontypool Changes Everything", the cult horror novel-turned-film-turned-radio play by Tony Burgess, this suspenseful stage adaptation merges mystery and thoughtful dash of societal commentary with America's zombie obsession. And leaves us wondering if our words can, in fact, pronounce the end of humanity.

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Pontypool follows a radio DJ who tracks a frightening new virus as it spreads through his small town. Disgraced shock jock Grant Mazzy has been kicked off the Big City airwaves and now the only job he can get is the early morning show at CLSY Radio in the small town of Pontypool, which broadcasts from the basement of the town's only church. Other than Grant's bizarre encounter with a babbling woman on the way to work, it's another boring news day. But then the calls start to pour in; people are talking about disturbances, bizarre mob attacks, and reports of cannibalism. The violence seems to be spreading like a contagious virus, inflicting its victims with odd speech patterns and transforming infected people into zombie-like killers. But there's nothing coming in on the news wires. Tensions rise in the basement studio where Mazzy continues to broadcast and the staff must ask, "Is this really happening?" Is Mazzy a victim of a small town prank? And if it is not a prank, will anyone survive?
 

PLAYWRIGHT

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TONY BURGESS

Tony Bugess is a Canadian novelist, screenwriter, and playwright known for the 1998 novel PONTYPOOL CHANGES EVERYTHING and the subsequent film and play adaptations. 

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