The Scariest

Written by Kristin Newbom, Laura Schellhardt, Mark Schultz, Gary Sunshine, Dan Dietz, Ann Marie Healy, Liz Duffy Adams and Victoria Stewart

Directed by Ari Eedelson and Meredith McDonough

The Theatres at 45 Bleecker Street

212-239-62000

 

Review by Katharine Critchlow

 

Ordinarily, a theater housed in a dank basement complete with exposed pipes and mysterious underground noises could present a challenge for a set designer. If your production is called The Scariest, however, it’s a blessing. Making ample use of its creepy surroundings, from the hanging light bulbs that seem to shroud more than they illuminate, to the artful screen projections and silhouettes, the atmosphere more than earns its superlative title, even if the content is only kind of scary.

 

An anthology of short commissioned works billed as “contemporary takes on classic horror,” the show consists of five proper one acts and four short stories narrated with eerie aplomb by Joaquin Torres, your host for the evening.  Short of violating The Twilight Zone’s copyright, Torres does everything he can to make you think that Rod Serling is on the stage. And it works, particularly in the opener, Delightful, about a traveling strangler with a taste for small-town librarians.

 

Creepshow: One-act plays and short stories aim at our deepest fears in The Scariest.

 

In Finally, which plays like a romantic comedy version of W.W. Jacobs’ “The Monkey’s Paw,” a bumbling but well-intentioned guy (Jesse Hooker) gives his skeptical lady (Mandy Siegfried) a disgusting, yet magical, birthday gift. The paw provides its owner with three wishes, and apparently, a lot of pain. Rebecca Brooksher sparkles as the manipulative, love-addled neighbor who tries to get to Hooker (with a little help from the paw).

 

Inspired by a Nathaniel Hawthorne short story, The Apothecary’s Daughter is about a quietly venomous young lady (Siegfried) who makes the ukulele-playing object of her affection (Andy Grotelueschen) the unwitting subject of her pharmaceutical/botanical experiments. Grotelueschen has an appealing, Seth Rogen-esque quality and it’s a pleasure to watch him banter with Rebecca Brooksher as the flirty town gossip also vying for his love.

 

The final play, Kristin Newbom’s meta-theatrical spin on The Book of Revelation is interesting but approaches self-indulgence. Her use of the actors to embody her writer’s psyche as she works on her commissioned scary play demonstrates that, unless you’re screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, you probably shouldn’t be writing a story about adapting a story. Still, like The Scariest itself, it’s an ambitious, provocative and fun effort.