NEWS
The Dark Shadows In The Sun convention, held the weekend of July 16 -18th at the Burbank Airport Marriott Convention Center in California attracted over 1,000 fans of Dark Shadows from across the country and more than a dozen original actors and production personnel from the series.
The festivities began on Friday afternoon, July 16, with a special matinée screening of the 1970 feature film House Of Dark Shadows at the historic Egyptian-flavored Vista Theatre in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles. The standing-room only crowd also witnessed the star of the film, Jonathan Frid, place a hand print in cement outside the theatre, joining prints from his co-star that were put in cement a decade ago.
That evening at 6:00pm, activities began at the Marriott, highlighted by a trio of Dark Shadows Recollections on stage, pairing Kathryn Leigh Scott and Marie Wallace, Kathleen Cody and Jerry Lacy, and Lara Parker and John Karlen together to review vintage DS clips and answer questions from the audience.
Saturday, July 17th featured appearances by DS scenic designer Sy Tomashoff and music composers Robert Cobert, who also autographed the brand-new CD release of the 1991 Dark Shadows series soundtrack music. David Selby followed with a discussion about the start of his television career on DS and the historical context of the series, connecting to the social and political changes taking place in the late 1960's and early 1970's as featured in his new book "My Shadowed Past".
Jonathan Frid then offered a selection of ten favorite clips from DS as voted for by fans online via his website. Then he was joined on stage with the entire cast for one of the most powerful reunions in the 27 year history of the DS Festivals.
The gathering concluded on Sunday with a new comic book reading by Christopher Pennock, a musical session with James Storm, a dramatic performance by Selby and Lisa Richards plus a finale by Frid, followed by the closing banquet dinner, hosted by Roger Davis.
