"There once was a virtuous man called the Abbe de Coulmier... Then, one dark day he encountered a rogue. A rogue, with a habit, it seems, for writing stories..." - Photo by John Lamb
"Alas, there's only the lone figure of a man, swirling endlessly in a hollow void!" - Photo by John Lamb
"With each new gash - Christ offered me a sly reward. Such exquisite stings." - Photo by John Lamb
"Slander! Perjure! Lies! Let them judge me by my intentions, not the acts themselves." - Photo by John Lamb
"Yes, it's me. It's truly me! Renee Pelagie Cordier de Montreuil! The toast of France!" - Photo by John Lamb
"They say he lies in seven separate --- Oh, Good God!" - Photo by John Lamb
"My dear Donation. If, as penance for the life you've lived, you now find yourself in the blackest corner of hell...be consoled my darling you're the only man in the world that might find heaven there." - Photo by John Lamb
"And so - with a single, tiny blow - your head - my poor, misguided man - upon the block." - Photo by John Lamb
"Ooh, Abbe! Now in death I can freely taste what in life modesty so cruelly forbade." - Photo by John Lamb
"I beseech you, not there..." - Photo by John Lamb
"There is no God but me!" - Photo by John Lamb
"Christ's potent kisses did not cease. His mouth no longer sought my lesions; it went after sweeter fruit." - Photo by John Lamb
"In this last box, his tally, whacked!" - Photo by John Lamb
"In this box you'll find his right hand. In this his left. In this box you'll find his right foot. In this it's mate..." - Photo by John Lamb
"Ten venomous quills, each dripping its own poison!" - Photo by John Lamb
"Well, sir? Tell me!" - Photo by John Lamb
"Poor gullible LaFarge. He offered everything to the duplicitous little snit...an opulent home, with Italian tile and a garden full of imported tulips..." - Photo by John Lamb
"Carry me upstairs, so you can ravish me again!" - Photo by John Lamb
"I fucked her a thousand times! With pneumatic force." - Photo by John Lamb
"We inspected the body Marquis. She died intact." - Photo by John Lamb
Photo by John Lamb
"Snip, snip, snip..." - Photo by John Lamb
"I must have smelling salts! Absinthe! Doctor, quickly!" - Photo by John Lamb
"With that, Fanchon expelled a scream so extravagantly pitched..." - Photo by John Lamb
"Imagine! My scandalous stories, whipping through the halls of this mausoleum, like some mysterious breeze!" - Photo by John Lamb
"Never fear, my angel. I have a plan." - Photo by John Lamb
"You're far crueler, than I, my sweet." - Photo by John Lamb
"You've come to read my trousers. You'll note the longest sentence trails down the inseam." - Photo by John Lamb
"My newest book begins at my right cuff, continues across my back, and completes itself at the base of my left shoe..." - Photo by John Lamb
"Here, follow the adventures of Monsieur Dolmond..." - Photo by John Lamb
"I flatter myself that the Chateau shall be a tribute to her beauty..." - Photo by John Lamb
"Conversation, like certain portions of the anatomy, always runs more smoothly when lubricated." - Photo by John Lamb
"You've already stolen my heart, as well as another more prominent organ, south of the Equator..." - Photo by John Lamb
"Sew it up as tightly as when you were a virgin, and come back to me, renewed, so I can deflower it a second time!" - Photo by John Lamb
"This old lech forgot himself for a moment. He thought I was a character in one of his nasty books." - Photo by John Lamb
"So great was his beauty, so pungent was his youth, that the black robed friars had christened him with the name 'Ganymede'." - Photo by John Lamb
"The orchestra ceased its play, and the diva cried, 'Look! Here in our midst, Satan's bride!'" - Photo by John Lamb
Costume design by Cyndi Lohrmann - Photo by John Lamb
Set design by Dunsi Dai - Photo by John Lamb
Lighting Design and Photo by Maureen Berry
Lighting Design and Photo by Maureen Berry
Photo by John Lamb
Photo by Dunsi Dai
(Ted Gregory & Caitlin Mickey)
The Marquis: "You've already stolen my heart, as well as another more prominent organ, south of the equator..." - Photo by John Lamb
(Ted Gregory & Caitlin Mickey)
Marquis: "Nothing like a good tingle, is there Madeleine?" - Photo by John Lamb
(Ted Gregory & Caitlin Mickey)
Madeleine: "Must I administer the kisses directly, or might I blow them?"
Marquis: "The price, my coquette, is as firm as my javelin." - Photo by John Lamb
(Antonio Rodriguez, Ted Gregory & Caitlin Mickey)
Madeleine: "If we weren't such bad women on the page, Abbe, I'll hazard we couldn't be such good women in life." - Photo by John Lamb
(Stacie Knock & David Wassilak)
Renee Pelagie: "I have fallen prey to yet another abomination in this unending Cavalcade of Woe which I am doomed to call "my life." - Photo by John Lamb
(Stacie Knock & David Wassilak)
Dr. Royer-Collard: "With all due respect, Madame, all of France is familiar with your husband." - Photo by John Lamb
Cast of Quills:
From left to right (Antonio Rodriguez, Ted Gregory, David Wassilak, Charlie Barron, Stacie Knock) In Center (Caitlin Mickey) - Photo by John Lamb
By Tina Farmer – KDHX, August 5, 2014
“The institutional,1800s-era stone-walled set,by set designer Dunsi Dai,is gorgeously dressed with period style furniture and lovely feathered quills………..Costume Designer Cyndi Lohrmann and lighting designer Maureen Berry beautifully recreate the Marquis’ obsession in their designs.”
By Richard Green – Talkin’ Broadway, August 5, 2014
“As the Marquis,Ted Gregory is simply mind-boggling,shocking,hilarious,giddy,and utterly grotesque in a stylish,delightful sort of way that makes him even more dangerous…..”
By Snoop MK – Snoop’s Theatre Thoughts, August 6, 2014
“The storytelling is enhanced especially in the remarkable performances of the uniformly excellent cast…..Kudos to Max & Louie Productions for bringing this fascinating play to the St.Louis audiences, especially in such a well-crafted production.”
The Quill is Mightier Than the Sword By Chris Clark – The Vital Voice, July 22, 2014
“People most threatened by provocative art are usually terrified of their own appetites and impulses.”
The Marquis De Sade (1740 – 1814)
The word “sadism”, referring to sexual perversion involving the infliction of pain, is derived from the name of Donatien-Alphonse-Francois de Sade.
The Grand Guignol
The Theatre of the Grand Guignol first premiered in 1897, providing Paris with a new genre of entertainment that was, ironically, an outgrowth of naturalism. Grand Guignol seeks to inflame the audience by depicting events that appeal to our rawest and most primal impulses.
Video
State of the Arts HEC TV: Quills
Radio
KWMU Cityscape with Steve Potter
Guests:
Doug Wright – Playwright
Ted Gregory – Actor (plays the role of The Marquis de Sade)
Brooke Edwards – Director
By David Spencer – Aisle Say, 1995
“it comes by its outrages honestly, and is, when all is said and done, despite everything, a passionately humane play.”
