Zoe Barnes, we hardly knew ye. Photo: Molly Tolzmann/Flickr
Aaron Posner has described a cozy night in watching Netflix as a theater troupe’s greatest competition (in other words, make your night out better than a night in, or else, what’s the point?). Of course, one thing theater has going for it is that if your Tinder slam asks you out for a chill night out at the theater, it probably isn’t a flimsy code for hooking up. And while you can’t watch spooky plays all year long (point, Netflix), in October there’s a glut of creepy shows and interactive experiences you can see in the area.
*Part of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival
†Spooky
LAST CHANCE
>>INHERITANCE CANYON*. (Women’s Voices Theater Festival) From last month: Taffety Punk Theatre Company has this play from Liz Maestri, reuniting the characters from her play Owl Moon to put them through more merry hell in an alternate universe, presumably one with a spooky canyon in it. Check out our preview of the show here.Through October 10
>>DESTINY OF DESIRE*. Here’s what we said last month: The telenovela is an artform like none other, and a medium that’s silly even when taking itself seriously. Arena Stage follows in the tradition of Arrested Development and 30 Rock in playing the genre for laughs, with this comedy from Karen Zacaras. through October 18
>>QUEENS GIRL IN THE WORLD*. From last month’s guide: A one-woman show featuring Dawn Ursula, this show from Theater J is a meditation on Civil Rights-era America. Check out our review here.Recently extended through October 18.
NOW PLAYING
>>ANIMAL*. From last month: The mini-summary of this play from Studio Theatre reads like a list of side effect warnings, focusing as it does on a women suffering from hallucinations, paranoia, and anxiety. My money is on the culprit being a good old fashioned case of gaslighting, but as this (like all the other plays in the Festival) is a brand new work, we’ll have to wait to see. Through October 25.
>>UPRISING*: An inspired-by-a-true-story tale of life in the aftermath of John Brown’s raid at Harper’s Ferry, a town with a slew of ghost stories and a bloody past. At Metro Stage,through October 25.
>>THE CERULEAN TIME CAPSULE: The U.S. Botanic Garden would make a profoundly good setting for an after-dark haunted house, but I’ll settle for it being home to a site-specific “adventure” co-produced by the Kennedy Center. The best part? The event is free at the door, or you can reserve a time slot for your party for a paltry $2. Through October 25.
>>CAN’T COMPLAIN*† Spooky Action Theater is as often “otherworldly” as it is outright “spooky;” theater tends not to be a great vehicle for delivering jump-scares, but can be peerless in its ability to fill a viewer with profound unease. This show deals with a woman trapped in a hospital at the behest of her daughter, and plots an escape with the help of her granddaughter’s cat’s best friend, the Devil. Through October 25.
>>BUG.† I’m not easily creeped out by insects (spiders, on the other hand, oh man), but there’s something primal about our aversion to them. Bedbugs sound more like a torture trap from Saw than something out of real life: you have to keep sleeping in an infested bed, since moving to a new place for relief can just spread the critters. It’s no wonder bugs have the power to give us the shivers. SeeNoSun Productions is running Tracy Letts’ chilling play about people whose lives would be miserable enough without the insect infestation steadily creeping into their motel room.Through November 1
>>DC DEAD: MUTATION.† This event is almost closer to a haunted house than an interactive theater experience, but there’s enough acting in the traditional sense from the distinctly realized leaders of every small group that makes their way through the zombie hunt to count for the purposes of this list. Just don’t let that distract you from the thrill of hunting down zombies with a nerf “neurotoxin” (nerfotoxin?) gun. Through November 1
>>SALOMÉ* Yaël Farber’s adaptation of Wilde’s tragic adaptation of a biblical story. The original Salome would have fit in well on MTV’s Sweet 16: she’s the princess who asked her daddy for the head of his enemy, John the Baptist, on a silver platter. Plays at Shakespeare Theatre Company through November 8.
>>ALICE IN WONDERLAND.* October is made for companies like Synetic, whose day-glo costumes and foggy sets often leaves their stage feeling like a dark ride pastiche. Their take this month is a gothic-inspired, movement heavy retelling of Lewis Carroll’s classic. Through November 8.
>>CAKE OFF*. Here’s what we said last month: A new musical from the always-opulent Signature Theatre , this comedy focuses on a no-holds-barred bake off. Through November 22.
LATER THIS MONTH
>>LOVECRAFT: NIGHTMARE SUITE†. What do you need to know about this show, other than that it’s six short adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft’s sprawling oeuvre of nightmares and monsters. Molotov lobs this horror cocktail from October 15 through November 8.
>>THE DEALER OF BALLYNAFEIGH.*† A premiere play from Irish playwright Abigail Isaac Fine at Keegan Theatre. Between Mark O’Rowe and Martin McDonagh, I’m starting to wonder if Ireland holds a monopoly on bleakly funny plays. This one features a man tasked with scaring/torturing a drug dealer, though of course it all goes quickly wrong. From October 17 through November 14.
>>GIMME A BAND, GIMME A BANANA!*: Carmen Miranda, inventor of the original food pyramid (or at least the pyramidal fruit hat). Pointless Theatre will be running this colorful adaptation of Carmen’s life from October 15 through November 14.
Did we overlook a terrifying theatrical production that can’t be missed? Be sure to let us know in the comments.
