The Girl Who Handcuffed Houdini

The Girl Who Handcuffed Houdini from Hard Case Crime Titan Comics is a 1920’s mystery involving the world-famous escape artist, Harry Houdini! It’s written and iIlustrated by acclaimed artist, author, director, and playwright Cynthia von Buhler.

More info: minkywoodcock.com

The New Immersive Theater Experience by Speakeasy Dollhouse
New York audiences will be transported back to 1926 to experience a world of mysterious speakeasies, backstage intrigue, and hotel room affairs as they unravel the untimely death of legendary illusionist Harry Houdini in The Girl Who Handcuffed Harry Houdini, the new immersive theatrical production from playwright and director Cynthia von Buhler and her production company, Speakeasy Dollhouse.

Based on von Buhler’s popular comic series of the same title, which will be published as a hardcover graphic novel by Hard Case Crime/Titan Comics on August 22, 2018, The Girl Who Handcuffed Houdini follows private investigator Minky Woodcock as she uncovers secrets surrounding the final days of the world-famous escape artist. Woodcock’s investigation leads her to cross paths with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who believes Houdini is not merely a magician but has supernatural powers, and Bess Houdini, who suspects her husband is cheating on her.

The play will unfold throughout three floors of a historic East Village townhouse which today houses William Barnacle Tavern -- formerly Sheib’s Place, a speakeasy where the New York City Council drank during Prohibition -- and the 199-seat Theatre 80 Saint Marks. Von Buhler, who is also the production’s set designer, will transform the townhouse into a Prohibition-era time capsule.

Audience members will be assigned a character to follow and then experience events through that character’s point of view. They might find themselves assisting the magician’s rehearsal backstage, sipping absinthe in a speakeasy, spying on an affair in a hotel room, witnessing an attempted murder, attending a séance, visiting Houdini in his hospital room, or viewing his body in the morgue.

Replete with incredible magic tricks and authentic recreations of spiritualist demonstrations such as séances, tarot readings, and spirit photography, the production offers up a meticulously detailed slice of Houdini history, including a performance of his iconic Water Torture Chamber act, which VIP ticket holders will be invited onstage to inspect. Audience members are encouraged to come back again to follow other key players and see alternate facets of what actually led to Houdini’s fateful death. Evidence is revealed, but the truth is left up to the theatergoer to decide.