Jacksonville, FL. – Sept. 23, 2005 – It’s renowned among film buffs as the worst movie of all time. Ironically, one of Florida’s best movie critics is making his writing-directing stage debut with it.

“Plan Nine from Outer Space” is the magnum opus of famed bad-movie director Edward D. Wood, Jr., who never knew a take he didn’t like. His movies, particularly his sci-fi epic “Plan Nine,” are rife with cheap-looking sets, bad continuity, and otherworldly dialogue.

Steven Bailey has been the movie reviewer and entertainment writer for The Beaches Leader newspaper for the past eight years. In 2003 and 2004, Bailey received first-place recognition for his written criticism in the Florida Press Association’s annual “Better Newspaper Contest.”

Bailey also happens to be a big fan of “Plan Nine.” So it was inevitable that their personalities would clash.

“I first saw the movie on TBS in 1980,” Bailey says, “and have been in love with it ever since. Just as

"I first saw the movie on TBS in 1980," Bailey says, "and have been in love with it ever since. Just as it is with movie classics, you can watch ‘Plan Nine’ over and over and see something new in it each time–even if the ‘something new’ is a conspicuous wire or a tombstone falling over."

Bailey recently bought a DVD of the movie. One night, he watched it and experienced a revelation.

"My head practically exploded," Bailey says. "My brain started shouting ‘responses’ to the terrible dialogue, as though I was watching ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ instead of ‘Plan Nine.’ The more I watched it, the more I thought, ‘There’s a play in this.’"

Having seen "Reefer Madness: The Musical," Showtime’s recent "update" of the campy 1936 melodrama about the evils of marijuana, Bailey saw the potential in taking a straight-faced bad movie and turning its dialogue slightly askew.

After transcribing the movie’s dialogue, Bailey put his individual twists on it as a stage play, titled "Plan Nine from Outer Space: The Rip-Off." He submitted it to many local theaters, most of which either turned it down outright or simply ignored it.

"Then Boomtown Theatre in downtown Jacksonville gave me the go-ahead for it," Bailey said. "I’ll always be grateful to [Theatre producer] John Allen Harrett for seeing the humor in this concept and giving me the chance to find a public for it."

"Plan Nine...The Rip-Off" is Bailey’s first play to be written and staged by him. "I know it’s ‘just’ a local play," Bailey says. "But with the following this movie has gathered over the years, I think it has the potential to be an ongoing hit that will continue to satisfy audiences for as long as the movie itself does so."

"Plan Nine from Outer Space: The Rip-Off" will have its "world premiere" at Boomtown Theatre’s new downtown location, 140 West Monroe Street (in the Park Place Building at the south side of Hemming Park, across from City Hall). Performances will be on Oct. 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, and 29 at 8 p.m., and Oct. 23 and 30 at 2 p.m. Admission will be $10.

The play’s official website will be continually updated in a timely manner up to the play's premiere.

For information: http://www.PlanNineIsComing.com

or

steve.bailey@NOSPAMmindless.com

| Copyright © 1996- by John Crocker. All Rights Reserved |