The House On Haunted Hill by Tommy Jamerson
Directed by Dan Bushong
Vision Statement
The horror genre is beloved by many and this show epitomizes that. Just the name already perks up ears and interest as I'm sure it is right now after seeing the name?
This is a newer written piece that I think should be considered to be put on the mainstage. This play immediately grabbed my attention when I first reached out to the playwright to discuss that he'd like for this play to be showcased to the local areas. I told him I wanted to read it first to consider that possibility first to see if it naturally grabbed my interest.
Within the first 15 pages, I clapped my hands together and already had ideas springing to mind. It immediately starts off highlighting the "big bad" in a sharp way - everything from his beginning monologue to his mannerisms struck fear and excitement in me to just read. When a strong villain is able to do that, I know it's got to be something magical.
The entire play goes from present day, him reliving and accentuate his motives and feelings about the other characters throughout the show, to the events that lead up to the end where it hits the audience with plot twist after plot twist and even encouraging the audience to come see it a second time to catch some missed foreshadows or references.
The play also does an incredible job in bringing ALL characters to life - or lack thereof - through their own selfish means to outlast everyone else to the understanding that cooperation becomes key to survival.
All in all, the play garners a lot of excitement throughout just from me reading it to hearing a number of people share their enthusiasm about the play itself, I believe this would be a wonderful addition to the mainstage where I have ideas buzzing about for how to highlight Frederick in a way that every word he speaks, will make the audience want to listen and know something is amiss throughout. I don't want to spoil too much as I know more than what I have already in mind will only get better if selected. The amount of fun I've had reading a play hasn't occurred to me in this magnitude for some time now. I do strongly believe The House On Haunted Hill will draw many eyes and bring in packed audiences.
The play has been adapted from the classical 1959 film which is considered a cult classic to the modern day and age for its groundbreaking performances and writing. The name alone brings ears perking up as synonyms with the realm of "Haunting" garner a lot of mainstream attention (Haunting of Bly Manor, Haunting of Hill House vis Netflix - different title - Haunting of Venice) as horror genre related themes sometimes go overlooked but are loved by their community. Even for people who aren't entirely fond of the horror genre, still like to study, learn and more often than not, come around to watching the genre and falling in love with some part of it for it's spooky or edge-of-your-seat moments that grab the audience so they want to see more.