The Masque of the Red Death (play) building. The narrative was based on the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe, including but not limited to "The Masque of the Red Death". The production fell within several genres of theatre, including site-specific theatre, promenade theatre, interactive theatre and immersive theatre. The audience members, who were free to roam around the sets at will, wore white masks to distinguish themselves from the cast who were maskless and the stewards/staff who wore discreet black masks. The narrative was communicated through a series of overlapping scenes blending the mediums of interpretive dance, contemporary dance and traditional acting. Following the show on
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971 film) hired to direct the film. Hessler says he felt the story was so familiar it needed to be changed, so he and writer Christopher Wicking decided to do it as a play-within-a-play, with a mystery happening around a theatre that was putting on a production of "Murder in the Rue Morgue". The new storyline owned a lot to "Phantom of the Opera". Hessler said Vincent Price "was very upset that he wasn't in" the film "but I had nothing to with that." He thought Price was having contractual fights with AIP at the time. Hessler says AIP hired Jason Robard