“Paranormal Activity Wants to Scare You From the Stage” reads the headline of the article in The New York Times. “Like Stranger Things and Harry Potter, this horror film franchise is branching out with an original story that aims to pull the rug from under theatergoers… Horror at the theater is as old as, well, theater and horror.”
Written by Levi Holloway
Directed by Felix Barrett
Restaged by Levi Holloway
The Yard
Paranormal Activity
Written by Levi Holloway
Directed by Felix Barrett
Restaged by Levi Holloway
The Yard
Run Time: 2 hours (including intermission)
Audience Notice: RATED R for disturbing content and horror. Features loud noises, sudden darkness, and stage blood.
Lead Production Sponsor:
“★ ★ ★ ★! Enough connection to the movies to be beloved by fans, while being completely accessible to the unfamiliar.”
–Chicago Sun-Times
“The one thing most people will want to know: Will I be scared? Yes. Very. Cleverly, too.”
–Chicago Tribune
“Amazing staging, stunning special effects… and just plain a ton of fun!”
–WGN Radio
James and Lou move from Chicago to London to escape the past… but they soon discover that places aren’t haunted, people are. An original story set in the world of the terrifying Paranormal Activity film franchise, this thrilling new play from celebrated Chicago playwright Levi Holloway (Broadway’s Grey House) and Punchdrunk’s Felix Barrett (Sleep No More) with illusions by Tony Award winner Chris Fisher (Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Harry Potter & The Cursed Child) will haunt you long after you get home. Experience the horror of this North American premiere produced by Chicago Shakespeare before it hits LA, San Francisco, and DC later this season. Can you even believe your eyes?
Additional Credits
By arrangement with Paramount Pictures and Melting Pot
In co-production with Center Theatre Group, American Conservatory Theater, and Shakespeare Theatre Company
Based on the Paranormal Activity films, first written and directed by Oren Peli and brought to the screen by Blumhouse and Solana Films
TM & © 2025 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved
Run Time: 2 hours (including intermission)
Audience Notice: RATED R for disturbing content and horror. Features loud noises, sudden darkness, and stage blood.
Lead Production Sponsor:
Video: Trailer
Video: Humor Meets Horror
Video: Meet The Characters
Video: Audience Response
Gallery: On Stage
Video: Playwright Levi Holloway
Video: About the Show with Cast
Video: Teaser Trailer
Video: Trailer
Video: Humor Meets Horror
Video: Meet The Characters
Video: Audience Response
Gallery: On Stage
Production photos from Paranormal Activity, playing through November 2 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
Production photos from Paranormal Activity, playing through November 2 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
Production photos from Paranormal Activity, playing through November 2 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
Production photos from Paranormal Activity, playing through November 2 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
Production photos from Paranormal Activity, playing through November 2 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
Production photos from Paranormal Activity, playing through November 2 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
Production photos from Paranormal Activity, playing through November 2 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
Video: Playwright Levi Holloway
Video: About the Show with Cast
Video: Teaser Trailer
“Taut and terrifying… I don’t want to spoil the play’s many delicious frights.”
–Chicago Culture Authority
“I have never seen anything like this on any Chicago stage.”
–WGN Radio
“Unforgettable! …Is beautifully crafted and a superbly paced tale of terror with a brilliantly talented cast.”
–Chicago Theatre Review
“Sensational build…impressively told and wonderfully acted ghost story.”
–Chicago Sun-Times
“Unforgettable! …Is beautifully crafted and a superbly paced tale of terror with a brilliantly talented cast.”
–Chicago Theatre Review
“Sensational build…impressively told and wonderfully acted ghost story.”
–Chicago Sun-Times
Artists
Cher Álvarez
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. CHICAGO: Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Writers Theatre, Drury Lane. REGIONAL: Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Players Theatre. TELEVISION: Sugar (Apple TV); Leverage: Redemption (Amazon); NCIS Hawai’i (CBS); Chicago Med, Chicago PD (NBC); Station 1 (ABC); Shameless (Netflix). EDUCATION: BFA in musical theatre, Webster Conservatory of Dramatic Arts.
Patrick Heusinger
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. INTERNATIONAL: Originated the role of James in Paranormal Activity (Leeds Playhouse). BROADWAY: Luke in Next Fall, Fiddler on the Roof. OFF BROADWAY: Luke in Next Fall. TOUR: Lancelot in Spamalot. REGIONAL: Max in Moises Kaufman’s Bent written by Martin Sherman (Mark Taper Forum); Luke in Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s Abigail/1702 (New York Stage and Film). FILM: Main villain in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back starring Tom Cruise (Paramount Pictures/Skydance); Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach’s Frances Ha, Ali Selim’s Sweet Land. TELEVISION: Absentia, Causal, Girlfriend’s Guide to Divorce. Royal Pains, 30 Rock, Gossip Girl.
Shannon Cochran
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. CHICAGO: The Importance of Being Earnest, Dance of Death (Joseph Jefferson Award winner), Buried Child (Writers Theatre); The Christians (Steppenwolf Theatre); The Little Foxes, (Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens Theatre, Marriott- Lincolnshire Theatre. OFF BROADWAY: Bug (Barrow Street Theatre, Obie Award winner). TOUR: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, August: Osage County, Cabaret. REGIONAL: Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, Old Globe Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Cincinnati Playhouse. INTERNATIONAL: Bug (Gate Theatre); The Man Who Came to Dinner (Steppenwolf Theatre/Royal Shakespeare Company). FILM: Lullaby (October); The Twin, The Ring, Star Trek: Nemesis, Captive State. TELEVISION: Ballard, Scandal, The Office, Modern Family, Star Trek: DS9, The Next Generation. EDUCATION: Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. AWARDS: Obie Award, Theatre World Award, several Joseph Jefferson Awards. Cohran recently directed Fallen Angels at American Players Theatre.
Kate Fry
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Henry V, As You Like It, Henry IV parts 1 and 2 (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Merchant of Venice, The Molière Comedies, The Taming of the Shrew, Love’s Labor’s Lost, The Two Gentlemen of Verona. CHICAGO: The Cherry Orchard, A Winter’s Tale, Ah Wilderness! (Goodman Theatre); Birthday Candles, Mother of the Maid, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Outside Mullingar (Northlight Theatre); Wife of a Salesman, Marjorie Prime, Hedda Gabler, Oh Coward! (Writers Theatre); Mousetrap, The Belle of Amherst, Electra, Caroline or Change (Court Theatre); In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play (Victory Gardens Theatre). OFF BROADWAY: A Minister’s Wife (Lincoln Center Theatre). REGIONAL: McCarter Theatre Center (Princeton, NJ); Center Theatre Group (Los Angeles); Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. TELEVISION: Chicago P.D. (NBC); Proven Innocent (Fox); Boss (STARZ). AWARDS: Joseph Jefferson Award, Sarah Siddons Award, Court Theatre’s Nicholas Rudall Award, Chicago Tribune actress of the year.
Sophie Kaegi
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: An Inspector Calls. CHICAGO: Elf The Musical (Paramount Theatre); Olive Hoover in Little Miss Sunshine (Chicago Theatre Workshop); Annie in Annie (Citadel Theatre); Baby June in Gypsy (Music Theatre Works); Tina Denmark in Ruthless, the Musical! (Steel Beam Theatre); A Christmas Carol (MPAC); Winnie the Pooh (Ravinia Festival). TELEVISION: Chicago PD (NBC). EDUCATION: BFA in musical theatre, Western Michigan University (2027). @sophiekaegi
Caron Buinis
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: All’s Well That Ends Well. CHICAGO: True West, The Full Monty, Cabaret, Oklahoma! (Paramount Theatre); The Music Man, Oliver! (Marriott Theatre); Murder on the Orient Express, An American in Paris (Drury Lane Theatre); How Blood Go (Congo Square/Steppenwolf 1700); I Am A Camera, (Porchlight Revisits); Chimerica (TimeLine Theatre); King Liz (Windy City Playhouse); REGIONAL: Asolo Rep, Penobscot Theatre, Forward Theatre, George Street Playhouse, Nebraska Rep. FILM: Lacy’s Christmas Do-Over, Silent as the Grave TELEVISION: Chicago Fire, Chicago PD (NBC). EDUCATION: MFA theatre, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Caroline Hendricks
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. CHICAGO: Infernal (Proboscis Theatre Company); Hooded, Or Being Black for Dummies (First Floor Theater, Joseph Jefferson Award Nominated Ensemble); The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience (Netflix/Shondaland/Fever); Chicago Comedy Hour (The Second City’s de Maat Studio Theater); Junie B. Jones is Not a Crook (Merle Reskin Theatre); Liquidation Sale! (Judy’s Beat Lounge); Graduate Showcase: TenneSHE William’s The Glass Ceiling Menagerie (e.t.c. Theater at The Second City); It’s a Wonderful Laugh (Bughouse Theater). FILM: Room Six. TELEVISION: Chicago Fire (NBC). EDUCATION: BFA in acting and Minor in digital cinema, The Theatre School at DePaul University, The Second City Conservatory Graduate at The Second City Training Center Chicago.
Michael Holding
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. CHICAGO: Translations (Writers Theatre); Rutherford and Sons (Timeline Theatre); We are Proud to Present… (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); Koalas (16th Street Theatre); Posh (Steep Theatre); Truth and Reconciliation (Sideshow Theatre); Shining City (Irish Theatre of Chicago); The Diviners (Organic Theater); The Madness of Edgar Allen Poe, The Merchant of Venice (First Folio Theatre). REGIONAL: TheatreSquared, Lakeside Shakespeare Theatre. FILM: Reversed, Vampirus, Finn and the Sea of Noise. TELEVISION: Deli Boys (Hulu); Chicago Med (NBC); South Side (Comedy Central). EDUCATION: BFA in acting, Illinois Wesleyan University.
Hannah Goodman
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. CHICAGO: Rooted (Oil Lamp Theatre); Iron Kisses, Ladies in Waiting (Theatre Above the Law). INTERNATIONAL: Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (Edinburgh Fringe Festival with LA Theatre Initiative). EDUCATION: BA in acting and Minor in creative writing, Muhlenberg College; The Second City Conservatory Training Center; Theatre Academy of London; American Academy of Dramatic Arts; New York Film Academy.
Written and Restaged by
LEVI HOLLOWAY
LEVI HOLLOWAY (Writer/Director) is a Chicago-based artist. As a playwright, world premieres include Pinocchio at Chicago Children’s Theatre, Haven Place, Grey House and most recently, Turret (which he directed) at A Red Orchid Theatre, with which he is an ensemble member. His play Grey House ran on Broadway in 2023. Levi is the co-founder of Neverbird Project, a youth based Deaf and hearing theatre company. He spent a decade devising theatre with the Sign/Voice theatre program at Chicago’s Bell Elementary, one of the country’s oldest and most prolific Deaf and hearing integrated schools, founded in 1917. He is repped by CAA and Anonymous Content.
Directed by
FELIX BARRETT
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. BROADWAY: Viola’s Room. OFF BROADWAY: Sleep No More. REGIONAL: Sleep No More Boston. INTERNATIONAL: Sleep No More Seoul, Paranormal Activity, Viola’s Room, Luna Luna, The Burnt City, Sleep No More Shanghai, The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable, The Crash of the Elysium, The Duchess of Malfi, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, It Felt Like a Kiss, The Masque of the Red Death, Faust, The Firebird Ball. TELEVISION: The Third Day (HBO). MUSIC: Shakira’s Sun Comes Out global tour, Mumford & Son’s Delta tour. EDUCATION: Degree in drama and Honorary Doctorate from the University of Exeter. AWARDS: MBE in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours, BAFTA nomination for The Third Day, Special Citation Obie Award for Sleep No More, Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement Sleep No More Shanghai.
Camille Etchart
UK Associate Scenic Designer
Frank McCullough
US Associate Scenic Designer
Stephen Carmody
US Assistant Scenic Designer
Lianne Arnold
US Associate Video Designer
Daniel Weissglass
Associate Illusions Designer
Skylar Fox
Illusions Consultant
Abby May
US Associate Lighting Designer
Will Pickens
US Associate Sound Designer
what IF we Productions | Luke Ricca, Jonathan Cottle
Co-Production Technical Supervisor
Emma W. Lipson
Production Assistant
Camille Etchart
UK Associate Scenic Designer
Frank McCullough
US Associate Scenic Designer
Stephen Carmody
US Assistant Scenic Designer
Lianne Arnold
US Associate Video Designer
Daniel Weissglass
Associate Illusions Designer
Skylar Fox
Illusions Consultant
Abby May
US Associate Lighting Designer
Will Pickens
US Associate Sound Designer
what IF we Productions | Luke Ricca, Jonathan Cottle
Co-Production Technical Supervisor
Emma W. Lipson
Production Assistant
Fly Davis
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. BROADWAY: Caroline, Or Change (Tony Award Best Costume Design nominee). WEST END: Caroline, Or Change (Olivier Award Best Costume Design nominee); Groan Ups (UK Tour); Nick Mohammed’s The Best and Worst of Mr Swallow, Show Pony. INTERNATIONAL: 50 First Dates Musical (The Other Palace); The Human Body, Henry V, Appropriate (Donmar Warehouse, Evening Standard Best Set Design Award nominee); Beginning, Middle, Pericles, I Want My Hat Back (National Theatre); Macbeth (Royal Shakespeare Company/Barbican); The Winter’s Tale (Royal Lyceum); Othello (Shakespeare’s Globe); Vassa, Otherland (Almeida); The Enormous Crocodile Musical (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre/US Tour); Christmas Carol-ish Musical (Soho Place); Streetcar Named Desire, Scuttlers (Royal Exchange Theatre); Improbable, Philip Glass’ Tao of Glass (Manchester International Festival); Image of an Unknown Young Woman (Gate Theatre, Off West End Award). COSTUME DESIGN: The Odyssey (National Theatre); Unreachable (Royal Court); Shipwreck (Almeida). OPERA: La Boheme (Gothenburg Opera House); Opera for the Unknown Woman (Welsh Millennium Centre). EDUCATION: Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Motley Theatre Design Course.
Luke Halls
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. BROADWAY: West Side Story. INTERNATIONAL: Aida (Circustheater); The Starry Messenger, Everyone’s Talking About Jamie, The Moderate Soprano, Frozen, 2071, The Nether and The Lehman Trilogy (West End); Shipwreck and Oil (Almeida); Linda and Girls & Boys (Royal Court); Miss Saigon (Austria, Japan, New York and UK tour); Antony and Cleopatra, Man and Superman, Ugly Lies the Bone and The Great Wave (National Theatre); The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage, Talking Heads, A Christmas Carol, Alys, Always and My Name is Lucy Barton (Bridge Theatre); Local Hero (Royal Lyceum Theatre); Desire Under the Elms (Crucible Theatre); Elegy for Young Lovers (Theater an der Wien); Half a Sixpence (Chichester Festival Theatre); Mary Poppins (touring); Hamlet and The Master and Margarita (Barbican); I Can’t Sing (The London Palladium); The Little Big Things (Soho Place). OPERA: Boris Godunov (Teatro alla Scala); Lucia di Lammermoor and Otello (Metropolitan Opera); The Merry Widow (Bergen National Opera); Atlas (LA Philharmonic); Don Giovanni and Król Roger (Royal Opera House); The Hobbit, The Cunning Little Vixen, Don Giovanni and Der Freischütz (Danish Royal Opera); Zeitgeist (Coliseum); Das Liebesverbot (Teatro Real); Tristan und Isolde (Festival d’Aix–en-Provence); The Flying Dutchman (Finland National Opera); West Side Story (Malmö Opera); Don Giovanni (Barcelona Opera and Houston Opera); Marco Polo (Guangzhou Opera House); Madame Butterfly and Carmen (Bregenzer Festspiele); Porgy and Bess (National Opera, Amsterdam, and Met Opera). DANCE: Like Water for Chocolate (Royal Opera House, Costa Mesa, and Metropolitan Opera); Malgorzata Dzierzon (Ballet Rambert); Connectome (Royal Ballet). TELEVISION: The Cube (ITV). AWARDS: BAFTA for The Cube (2012); Knight of Illumination Award for Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House (2014); Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Projection Design on West Side Story on Broadway (2020); Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Video / Projection Design on The Lehman Trilogy (2021/22); Telly Awards for Use of 360, Animation, and Interactivity on Frameless Immersive Art Gallery London (2023). Additional professional industry credits include Paris Fashion Week, Olympic and Paralympic 2012 closing ceremonies, FIFA World Cup Opening ceremony 2022. Halls has designed visuals for performing artists such as Adele, Rolling Stones, Genesis, Rihanna, Elton John, U2, and Dua Lipa.
Chris Fisher
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. BROADWAY: Stranger Things: The First Shadow (Marquis Theater); Back to the Future: The Musical (Wintergarden Theater); Company (Bernard B. Jacobs Theater); Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Lyric Theater); Angels in America (Neil Simon Theater). LONDON WEST END: Dr Strangelove (Nöel Coward); Stranger Things: The First Shadow (Phoenix); Back to the Future: The Musical (Adelphi); The Prince of Egypt (Dominion); Ballet Shoes, The Witches, Peter Gynt, Julie, Treasure Island (National Theatre); 2:22 A Ghost Story (Nöel Coward); Company (Gielgud); The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Gillian Lynne), Big The Musical (Dominion) . UK REGIONAL: Paranormal Activity and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Leeds Playhouse); Merlin (Northern Ballet). INTERNATIONAL: The Illusionist (Tokyo); The Ghost and the Lady (Tokyo); Wicked (Germany). AWARDS: Special Tony Award 2025 for Illusions and Technical Effects for Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Anna Watson
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. INTERNATIONAL: Giant (West End/Royal Court); Anna Kerenina (Chichester Festival Theatre); Otherland (Almeida Theatre); The Unseen (Riverside Studios); Imposter 22, Hope has a Happy Meal, That is not who I am, Poet in da Corner (UK tour), All of it, Pity, You for Me for You, Plaques & Tangles, A Time to Reap (Royal Court Theatre); Paranormal Activity (Leeds Playhouse); The Band’s Visit, Appropriate, Becoming: Part One, Salt Root & Roe (Donmar Warehouse); All of Us (National Theatre); Three Sisters, Othello, The Winters Tale, Hamlet, Henry VI, Richard III (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse); Gaslight (Watford Palace); A Christmas Carol (Bristol Old Vic); Leave to Remain, The Seagull, Shopping & Fucking (Lyric Hammersmith); The Fantastic Follies of Mrs Rich, Snow in Midsummer, The Roaring Girl (Royal Shakespeare Company); Box of Delights (Wilton’s Music Hall); King Lear (Globe Theatre); Dutchman, The Secret Agent, Fireface, Disco Pigs, Sus (Young Vic); Bank on it (Theatre-Rites/Barbican); Paradise, Salt (Ruhr Triennale, Germany). DANCE: Merlin (Northern Ballet); Mothers, Soul Play (The Place); Refugees of a Septic Heart (The Garage); View from the Shore, Animule Dance (Clore ROH). OPERA: Don Carlo (Grange Park); Orlando (WNO/Scottish Opera/San Francisco); Cendrillon (Gyndebourne); Ruddigore (Barbican/Opera North/UK Tour); Critical Mass (Almeida); Songs from a Hotel Bedroom, Tongue Tied (Linbury ROH); The Bartered Bride (Royal College of Music); Against Oblivion (Toynbee Hall).
Gareth Fry
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. BROADWAY: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, The Encounter. OFF BROADWAY: Blackwatch (St Anns Warehouse); Shun-kin (Lincoln Centre). REGIONAL: Let The Right One In (Berkeley Rep). INTERNATIONAL: Viola’s Room (Punchdrunk); Hamlet Hail To The Thief (Royal Shakespeare Company); The Land of the Living (National Theatre); Macbeth (Donmar Warehouse/Harold Pinter Theatre). EDUCATION: Theatre Design, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. AWARDS: two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, three Olivier Awards, two Helpmann Awards, one WhatsOnStage award and an Evening Standard award. BOOKS: He is the author of Sound Design for the Stage.
Chels Morgan
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Billie Jean, 42 Balloons. CHICAGO: Honeypot (Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre/Northwestern); Into the Woods (Kokandy Productions); Seven Guitars (CityLit Theatre); cultural sensitivity director on Kid Prince and Pablo (Lifeline Theatre Company). OFF-BROADWAY: How to Defend Yourself (New York Theatre Workshop). REGIONAL: Afterglow (The Hudson Theatres); Destiny of Desire (Old Globe Theatre); Siluetas (Power Street Theatre); Hair, Bernarda Alba, Rent (University of Michigan). INTERNATIONAL: Orlando (Antipodes Theatre Company). FILM: all the words but the one, Some Kind of Paradise, Aristotle, Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. TELEVISION: LACE (AllBlk Network). EDUCATION: MFA in directing, Loyola Marymount University. Morgan is an AASECT Certified Sexuality Educator (CSE), an adjunct professor at The Theatre School at DePaul University, and the Director of Accessibility and Inclusion at the Intimacy Professionals Education Collective (IPEC).
Susan Gosdick
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: The Lord of the Rings, Peter Pan. CHICAGO: Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story (Marriott Theatre); Sound of Music, Rock of Ages, Kinky Boots, Hand to God, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Disney’s Newsies, Once, Cabaret, Million Dollar Quartet, Sweeney Todd, The Little Mermaid (Paramount Theatre); The Mountaintop (Invictus), The Life and Deaths of Alan Turing, Albert Herring (Chicago Opera Theatre); Ironbound, Requiem for a Heavyweight (Artistic Home); The Gulf (About Face Theatre); Cabaret (Theatre at the Center); Brigadoon, Secret Garden, Cabaret (Music Theater Works); The Whaleship Essex, Mill Fire (Shattered Globe), and others. Acting credits: Paramount Theatre, Theatre at the Center, Drury Lane Theatre, Artists’ Ensemble, The Old Globe.
Bob Mason
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: 150 plus productions over 24 years, including 35 plays in Shakespeare’s canon under current Artistic Director Edward Hall and Founding Artistic Director Barbara Gaines. Also at CST: nine productions of Stephen Sondheim musicals under the direction of Gary Griffin. CHICAGO: Bounce, Light in the Piazza (Goodman Theatre); REGIONAL: SIX (CST, American Repertory Theater–Artios Award, Ordway Center, The Citadel); Ride the Cyclone (CST, Fifth Avenue Theatre/A Contemporary Theater, Alliance Theatre); OFF-BROADWAY: Ride the Cyclone (MCC); Rose Rage: Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3, directed by Artistic Director Edward Hall (The Duke on 42nd Street); Marionette Macbeth (New Victory); BROADWAY: SIX, The Notebook; INTERNATIONAL: The Lord of the Rings: A Musical Tale (Auckland, NZ); Pacific Overtures (Donmar Warehouse–Olivier Award, Outstanding Musical); Henry IV, Parts One and Two (RSC). Prior to casting, Mason enjoyed a career as a Joseph Jefferson Award-winning actor and singer and has been a visiting educator at Northwestern University and multiple college programs across the country.
Travis A. Knight
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. CHICAGO: The Crucible (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); Toni Stone, Ah, Wilderness!, A Christmas Carol, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, Measure for Measure, Camino Real (Goodman Theatre); How a Boy Falls (Northlight); Camelot (Drury Lane Theatre); Turret (Jeff Award nomination – Best Performer in a Principal Role), The Malignant Ampersands, Grey House, Small Mouth Sounds, directed Revolution (A Red Orchid Theatre). REGIONAL: American Players Theatre (five seasons; favorite credits include The Tempest, The Glass Menagerie, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Richard III, Troilus and Cressida); Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Uprooted Theatre, Forward Theatre Company, Renaissance Theaterworks. FILM: Runner; Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party; Survivor, Soldier, Sinner, Savior; Rabbit Rabbit; Pornacopia. TELEVISION: Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Chicago Med (NBC); Mind Games (ABC); Dad Man Walking (web series). MOTION CAPTURE: Mortal Kombat 1 (NetherRealm Studios); Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 (Raven Software). AWARDS: Named to Players 50 2025 (Newcity Stage). Knight is a member of the artistic ensemble at A Red Orchid Theatre and serves as the Associate Artistic Director.
Melanie J. Lisby
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. CHICAGO: Red Dog Theatre. BROADWAY: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Tina–The Tina Turner Musical, Grand Horizons, On the Twentieth Century. OFF BROADWAY: Dark Disabled Stories, american (tele)visions, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, Hurricane Diane, Wild Goose Dreams, Jersey Boys, Pacific Overtures, Dead Poets Society, Mobile Unit’s Hamlet, Once Upon A Mattress. REGIONAL: Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, Williamstown Theater Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, Two River, Pig Iron, Gulfshore Playhouse, The Barnstormers, Crossroads Rep. EDUCATION: Indiana State University. Lisby has also worked on numerous showcases, readings, galas, and events and now makes her living as an Independent Travel Advisor. @choosejoyadventures For Dad
Julie Jachym
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Sunny Afternoon, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Henry V, The Lord of the Rings A Musical Tale. CHICAGO: Prayer for the French Republic, 4 Hands 2 Pianos, Selling Kabul, Dial M For Murder, (Northlight Theatre); Frida… A Self Portrait, Every Brilliant Thing, Hot Wing King, Athena, Wife of a Salesman, Dishwasher Dreams (Writers Theatre); Another Marriage, Chlorine Sky, Bald Sisters, The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington, Choir Boy, Seagull (Steppenwolf Theatre). How I Learned What I Learned, Welcome to Matteson (Congo Square Theatre); Judy’s Life’s Work, Fairview, ALAIYO, WHITE (Definition Theatre); Memorabilia, La Havana Madrid, Bernarda!, The Dream King, Enough to Let the Light In, Somewhere Over the Border (Teatro Vista Productions); A Christmas Carol 2019 (Goodman Theatre). Julie is a Definition Theatre Ensemble Member and a proud member of Actors Equity.
Spotlight
The New York Times Feature
WBEZ & Chicago-Sun Times Feature
“We’re introduced to a couple who seem very familiar to us. And sometimes our weaponry is in the mundane,” shares playwright Levi Holloway. “They’re not extreme characters. They’re very human. So, when they’re met with the uncanny or the impossible, we ask ourselves an audience, ‘What would I do’ and ‘Would I survive?’”
Special Performance: Paranormal Prom
On October 9, audiences delighted in a sinister soiree culminating in the most terrifying live theater experience Chicago had even seen. Tickets included specialty “spirits”, delectable bites from Harry Caray’s Tavern, lobby activities, and admission to Paranormal Activity.
