By Jennifer Mustoe
Next Step Theatre Company brings an amazing Halloween virtual theater series, Night Chills: Tales of Terror by Edgar Allen Poe, adapted by Billy St. John, that packs a punch with great acting and a great retro radio show feel. The first installment, Tell Tale Heart, is already posted and is well worth a watch/listen.
At only 25 minutes, Tell Tale Heart is a short, spooky YouTube video that offers a few wonderful bits.
1. It has subtitles. According to Kenneth McCormack, Artistic Director: “Adding the subtitles/captions was something I definitely wanted to do from the beginning. Far too often, the elderly community and hard of hearing/deaf community aren’t given a full opportunity to experience theatre to its full extent. There’s so much more we can do, but we hope this helps.”
2. Though there are some graphics, the actors’ voices and sound effects are what we focus on, and it is a compelling experience. I read Tell-Tale Heart in high school, and this production is exactly what I imagined at that first reading. Next Step Theatre Company has captured the style and strangeness of the short story very well. The heart pounding sound effect is really thrilling. I loved it.
3. This is a piece that could easily be a family Halloween production. Yes, the story has some gore, but the language of the story, as well as the excellent acting, make it more a period piece than a slasher piece. If your child is old enough to read the story (tween? teen?) they are old enough to watch/listen to this. I have a degree in Humanities, English emphasis, and I really enjoyed this. It is authentic.
Jake Trumbo plays the miserly, bad-tempered Nathan Zolka. He sounds as gruff and mean as he should. We don’t like him. We’re not supposed to. And yet, is his fate fair? Eva TerraNova and Ashtyn Roskelley play sisters Kristin and Metti Holub, Zolka’s nieces. These women are so in sync, they seem like real sisters. Their intensity is very smart, very poignant, and moves the story along well. Torin Scoffield plays the bumbling officer Brannaman, who comes in at the last minute to round out the piece.
Director Devin Manfull edited and directed Night Chills: Tales of Terror and has created a finessed, tight piece. See the interview Front Row Reviewers published with Manfull here.
All episodes of Night Chills: Tales of Terror can be found on Next Step Theatre’s website. Please go to the company’s Facebook Page, Next Step Theatre’s website, Night Chills page to stream (this page also has cast bios, and a photo of their Zoom rehearsal), The Cask of Amontillado Facebook Event, Next Step Theatre Co on Instagram: @nextsteptheatre.
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