The 1815 eruption of Indonesia’s Tambora volcano had a catastrophic effect on climate around the world. In North America and Europe, the following twelve months became known as “the year without summer.” Confined indoors by the relentless rain and cold, a group of friends, including 18-year old Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and poet Lord Byron, began writing ghost stories to pass the time. Shelley’s tale “Frankenstein” remains, over 200 years later, a work of timeless imagination and power.

Includes a post-play conversation with Leslie S. Klinger, author of The New Annotated Frankenstein.

Original music by John Biddle.

Recorded before a live audience at the UCLA James Bridges Theater in February 2020.