April 30 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Performance
Impulse Festival: The Wizard Unworthy
Date:
Cost:
6 – 20
Time:
Address:
937 Liberty AvenuePittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222 United States
THE WIZARD UNWORTHY
written by Hannah Honey Shepard
directed by J. Cody Spellman
The Wizard Unworthy is a psychedelic horror-fantasy about a drunk and retired wizard, Garathiander (Garath) who is struck with guilt about his sister’s death. The creation of the Vessel for Garath’s sister goes horribly awry when Garath’s minion, Zorp, feeds it human flesh, resulting in an abomination who is sure to be responsible for their deaths. Garath scrambles to find a means of survival, including communing with dark powers, when his estranged nephew Sonny conveniently arrives. As the Vessel grows in power, will Garath sacrifice Sonny or Zorp to survive? Or will he sacrifice himself?
The Wizard Unworthy will have one presentation at Three Stories downtown. This reading is a part of the Center for New Work’s Impulse Festival, a brand new event featuring new works from CMU’s MFA in Dramatic Writing program alongside plays & musicals in development at Pittsburgh Public Theater and Pittsburgh CLO.
CAST
Madeline Ellinghaus
Michael McBurney
Truman Columbus
Von Markarian
Hannah Honey Shepard (she/they) is a playwright, screenwriter, and RPG narrative designer from Washington State & Texas. She seeks other dimensions, parallel universes and sorcery – and cares little to write the world we live in. She won $10,000 from the Alfred P. Sloan foundation with her screenplay Ode to Joplin in the Alfred P. Sloan Script Competition at Carnegie Mellon University (2025). She is currently seeking her MFA in Dramatic Writing at Carnegie Mellon University, class of 2026.
J. Cody Spellman is a theatre and film director from Dayton, OH. He has served as Artistic Director of Throughline Theatre Company and Director of Production at Quantum Theatre and was an SDC Observer (2019–2021). He holds a BA from Columbia College Chicago and is a John Wells MFA Directing Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University. | jcodyspellman.com @jcspells.
