Horror is not my thing, so it is a high compliment that for Derek Lee Miller, I will sit through a solo horror show.
Bay Creek
Description:
Four generations of smugglers from the river bottoms of Pike County, IL deal with their legacy of violence and crime, and the terrifying entity they accidentally smuggled over the veil from the other side.
Venue - Barbara Barker Center for Dance
Content Warnings - Horror, Solo Show, Storytelling
Genre and Content - Adult Language, Drug Content, Loud Noises, Violence
Ages 16 and Up
The press materials add:
“‘Bay Creek’ is an original solo horror show by Derek Lee Miller set in the playwright's actual home county in Illinois, based in part on family stories and local legends. It explores Mississippi River culture, smuggling, and the cycle of violence within families through a supernatural thriller. The show premiered at the Green Bay Fringe, where it won the Boomerang Award, and ran in the Twin Cities Horror Festival. Cherry and Spoon described it as "a good old-fashioned ghost story, brilliantly written and performed," and The Stages of MN said, "Miller is never less than completely hypnotizing."
The More Information tab for this show page says, among other things:
“Bay Creek is a work of fiction, but Pike County, Illinois is a real place. I'm from there. No, it's not anywhere near Chicago. According to family lore, my great-grandfather really did smuggle liquor across the Mississippi River. There are signs on some river bridges really warning that smuggling cigarettes across state lines is a crime. There really was a very public shooting in a cafe in Pittsfield back in the '50s. My dad really did once tell me "There's bodies buried out in those fields they'll never find." My mom says she really has seen ghosts. A lot of people in Pike County will tell you the same. That being said, this play is entirely a work of fiction. Really.
To get a flavor of the kinds of supernatural stories people down there tell, I would recommend reading ‘Legends and Lore of Southern Illinois’ by John W. Allen, but I fear I may be one of the few people left with a physical copy.”
Derek landed at the top of pre-Fringe Top 10 list back in 2006 alongside the rest of his compatriots in Perpetual Motion Theater Company when they performed their play “The Depth of the Ocean” (aka, that Fringe show on a life raft in the lap pool of a YWCA - which is now closed, but that’s the pandemic’s fault, not the Fringe’s :)
In discussing Derek’s solo show "The Banana Wars," I once posted, “[Derek] still makes me feel like an unread philistine most of the time but he doesn’t judge so it’s fine.” People who are smarter and more multi-talented than I am both intimidate and fascinate me. I like watching them cook. And Derek’s been creating great theater, on his own and in collaboration with bunches of other talented stage artists, for quite a few Fringes now. You don’t have to take my word for it, just peruse his bio…
"Derek is a long-time Fringe performer now on his 22nd year in a row at Minnesota Fringe, where he has been an actor, writer, designer, musician and whatever else needs to be done to make the show happen. You may have seen him at Fringe
with Sandbox Theatre in “June of Arc” and “Marie-Jeanne Valet, Who Defeated la Bete du Gevaudan;”
with Transatlantic Love Affair in “Ballad of the Pale Fisherman,” “Ash Land,” “Red Resurrected,” “These Old Shoes,” “105 Proof” and “5x5;”
with The Winding Sheet Outfit in “Blood Nocturne,” “You Are Cordially Invited to the Life and Death of Edward Lear,” “Stabby Stab Stab,” “Årsgång” and “The Spirit Moves You to Color the Unseen,”
or in his solo shows “Know Your B-Movie Actors” and “The Banana Wars.”
You can also catch him again at this year's festival in “A Confluence of Magical Arseholes”
Originally from Pike County in west central Illinois, Derek earned a BFA in acting from Millikin University, and has been a resident of the Twin Cities since 2003.
He is the former Artistic Director of Sandbox Theatre
and a founding ensemble member of Transatlantic Love Affair.
He also illustrated the children's book ‘The Princess in the Clouds.’
You can see more about what Derek has gotten up to in the past at derekleemiller.com
and if you want to know what he's doing when he's not on stage, you can follow along as he continues to build an overly-complicated cabin in the woods at The Birchlands”
Interested in hearing about other artists I recommend based on past outings in the Fringe? Here's a link to a list of all the coverage of returning favorite artists from past pre-Fringe Top 20 lists of mine that are part of this year's Minnesota Fringe Festival.
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