Halloween Plays

What are actors, really, but people who play dress-up for a living? (This is not an insult. Wouldn't you love to play dress-up for a living?) So it should come as a small surprise that actors, and theatre people in general, love Halloween. That campiest of holidays provides a good excuse to really cut loose and Put On A Show, one with lots of fun things like blood and murder and terrified damsels, and unhampered, just this once, by boring things like character development and plots that make sense. Because hey, it's Halloween!

Here in Chicago you're especially in luck, because whatever your taste in spook, the local theatre scene is bound to have something that appeals to you, from opera to improv. At the high-art end of the spectrum is Faust, opening at the Lyric Opera on October 5. Based on the Christopher Marlowe play about the doctor who sells his immortal soul for worldly gain, Faust, despite my earlier promise, does feature character development and a plot that makes sense, but also includes murder, a terrified damsel, and of course Mephistopheles, the most famous (and coolest-named) demon in literature. For more fun with Faust, you may also want to check out An Apology For The Course and Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening, playing through October 24 at Chopin Theatre.

If opera and deals with the devil make you scream (in a bad way), you might try Plans 1 Through 8 From Outer Space at National Pastime Theater (through October 31). A takeoff on the legendary Ed Wood schlock-fest Plan 9 From Outer Space (often called the worst movie ever made), Plans 1 Through 8... promises camp, comedy, and aliens as it attempts to answer the question, "What went wrong the first eight times?"

For a more family-oriented audience, two productions of the classic legend of Sleepy Hollow should appeal to the kids. At the Morton Arboretum (Oct. 3 - Nov. 1) is Sleepy Hollow, a "charming family musical about romance and other terrors." And playing at the Viaduct Theatre (Oct. 16 - Nov. 9) is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: A New Folk Musical, which offers audiences more of a deconstruction of the famous myth through popular folk songs and ghost stories.

There are many more Halloween-themed plays to choose from, playing all over town and catering to almost any budget and taste.

Luke Heiden
Contributing Writer