Seven young performers shared their fears in MISCELLANEOUS Productions’ original, innovative, site-specific production Haunted House.
Adding to the uniqueness of the event, the performance took place in an actual house – the historic Edwardian Barclay Manor in Vancouver’s West End. The domestic setting was particularly apt, as this haunted house is indeed inhabited by ghosts.
MISCELLANEOUS Productions’ Director Elaine Carol tasked the young performers, aged 15-25, with creating performance works in a long-term collaboration that reflected memories or incidents from their past that most haunted them personally.
Drawing from their childhood for material, the emerging talents collaborated with professionals from the local professional artistic community on an array of pieces, from music to experimental theatre, to dance, to ritual.
Some of Vancouver’s top talent, including musician producer Chin Injeti, singers Dawn Pemberton and Natasha Pheko, choreographers Megan Solis, Sabera Hamid and Shallom Johnson, and composer/musician Cris Derksen, were part of the artistic team that helped the participants develop and polish their ideas.
Haunted House ran for only four performances, with audiences limited to 30 each night. Because the pieces took place throughout the house, five professional performers, the “Ghost Women” guided audience members from one area of the site to another, including outdoors, ensuring everyone saw the entire show. Fans of art that dared to confront dark places, found that as audience members went through the spectral journey, hope emerged.
