SEASON 39 | October 2026

The VORTEX Lighthouse Free Reading Series - The Failure of the Century
Sunday, October 11, 2:00PM

The VORTEX presents its Lighthouse, roaring back with the free reading of a new play every month. Come and be a part of the season selection process at The VORTEX by participating in hearing and discussing the plays.

A Play Regarding H.P. Lovecraft by Nick Mamatas

H. P. Lovecraft is dying to write. But the controversial horror writer cannot bring himself to finish his magnum opus, “The Shadow Out of Time”, and it’s eating away at his stomach. Then over one long and shadowy Christmas night, Lovecraft receives three visitors at his tiny Rhode Island bedsit—his younger colleague Frank Belknap Long; then his estranged wife Sonia Greene; and finally the Crawling Chaos himself – the witch-cult king, the pharaonic Outer God, Nyarlathotep!

“The Failure of the Century”, a blend of Lovecraftian Horror & A Christmas Carol, is the first play by award-winning Greek American writer & Hugo-award nominated editor Nick Mamatas. Nick is the author of instant cult classic Move Under Ground and the Lovecraftian murder mystery I Am Providence. His latest novel, Kalivas! Or, Another Tempest, is an anticolonial sci-fi revision of Shakespeare’s play.

Directed by David Beaumont Paul. Featuring: Bryan Hedrick as Lovecraft, Justin G. Smith as Long, Julia Bennett as Nyarlathotep, Sonia TBA. Morgan Smithwick, Production Assistant. Bonnie Cullum, Producing Artistic Director. Melissa McKnight, Managing Director. Alex Cogburn, Box Office Manager.