The Haunted Theater Company

In 1861, in a small town in England, the Haunted Theater Company, headed by Erasmus Bartholomew Wicklowe, began producing ghost plays and dark comedic shows. Tame by the standards that the French Grand Guignol would aspire to 30 years later, the Haunted Theater Company nonetheless delighted its audiences with outrageous plays based on gothic tales, including those inspired by Edgar Allan Poe. Wicklowe’s own brand of dark humor was also woven through various productions.

At the height of its popularity in 1866, tragedy struck the Haunted Theater Company in the form of a fire that raged through the building during a final dress rehearsal. All who were in the theater that night escaped unharmed except for Wicklowe, leading man Clyde Spragg, leading actress Cecily Waugh, costume designer Lydia Piggot-Smith, and stagehand George Villiers. They all perished in the fire. Their ashes were collected, then mysteriously disappeared.

No one stepped forward to rebuild the Haunted Theater Company, and so it vanished along with the ashes. Would that be the end? Nothing in theater is ever definite. And the show must go on. Wicklowe returned, in the form of a muse, 50 years later to Peter Grundgen, a theater practitioner in Germany who himself dabbled in gothic and horror themes. Wicklowe guided Grundgen through five seasons of a new Haunted Theater Company, then disappeared. Grundgen went on to other styles of theater.

Fifty years later, in 1971 Spain, Reina Castillo, who ran a small traveling troupe specializing in shows based on Spanish legends and folklore, was visited by Wicklowe, who guided her through another reincarnation of the Haunted Theater Company. Again, after five years, Wicklowe’s influence as a muse faded, and Castillo continued on to other endeavors.

Now, in America, Michael McGovern, who has himself produced and directed many dark comedies and plays with horror elements, has begun to feel the call of Erasmus Bartholomew Wicklowe to once again resurrect the Haunted Theater Company for another five seasons starting in 2026. What will happen?

(As a side note: it has been rumored that during performances of the Haunted Theater Company, the ghosts of Wicklowe, Spragg, Waugh, Piggot-Smith, and Villiers can sometimes be seen wandering around the lobby, on the stage, or even amongst the audience. Neither Grundgen nor Castillo ever verified these reports.)