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Brendan Michna as Scarecrow, Tay Dreher as Scarecrow (photo by Andy Batt)

by Krista Threadgill

Playwright Mark Cornell never thought that any theatre company would ever stage his new play, The Killing Room.  It’s an ambitious undertaking:  clips from silent movie greats like Nosferatu and early Hitchcock films flash against the back wall; a surreal set that takes the audience from a movie theater, to an apartment, to a deserted farmhouse in rural South Carolina, and to an asylum; and just to raise the bar a little higher, there’s rain—on the stage.  No namby-pamby sound effects, actual rain.  Who better than Columbus’ favorite avant-garde MadLab Theatre troupe to take on such a project?

In The Killing Room, we meet Jack (John Kuhn), a lonely man in his mid-30s who works as a piano player in a silent movie theater.  He tells the audience about a strange period of his life when he begins to question his sanity, his parentage, and his purpose in life.  Jack is haunted by strange dreams involving a Goat Girl (Traci Weaver) and strange scarecrow figures that chase him through the woods.  As Jack’s friend and boss, Garrett (Josh Kessler) shows increasing concern for Jack’s well-being.  As Jack’s nightmares get worse, he remembers his murdered parents (Stephen Woosley and Jennifer Feather), attempting to solve the mystery of who killed them when he was a teenager.  He also sees a series of doctors (Peter Graybeal and Tiffany Plummer) trying to figure out his ill health.  A fact-finding trip to South Carolina also unearths a half-sister named Allie (Tay Dreher) who was committed to an insane asylum.  After baring his soul to the audience, Jack learns that history need not always repeat itself.

Under the direction of Chris Lane, this production comes alive.  Kuhn navigates Jack’s twists and turns through waking dream and fractured reality with believability and evokes sympathy.  Kessler’s Garrett is, at turns, creepy and heartbreaking in his abject nerdiness and total disconnect from the world outside the movie house.  Wooosley and Feather do a wonderful turn as Jack’s bantering, loving—albeit inattentive and overly ambitious—parents.  Weaver’s Goat Girl is disturbingly enchanting.  Dreher’s performance as the criminally insane Allie is startling and genuine.  All of the other cast members bring solid work to the stage to bring this unusual play to light.

I would be completely remiss if I didn’t mention Doug Northeim’s incerdible set design.  MadLab’s mutable space allows for several stage/house configurations, and this one is one of the most creative uses I’ve seen there yet.  The set drives home the creepy aspects of the play, complete with gallows, a skeletal piano, and crudely stitched burlap sacks (reminiscent of Jack’s nightmare scarecrows) for upholstery and drapery—even serving as the “screen” for the silent movie clips.  The special effects in lighting, creative use of a fog machine, and especially the onstage rainstorms are particularly effective and add another layer of authenticity to the story.

This is the perfect time of year for a production of The Killing Room—I can’t think of a better selection for a Halloween play.  You’ll be dreaming of Goat Girls and scarecrows in your nightmares for weeks to come—or, at the very least, walking quickly to your car after you leave the theater, probably checking over your shoulder for any boogeymen that may be lurking in the shadows.  Don’t miss it!

MadLab Theatre and Gallery presents Mark Cornell’s The Killing Room October 16-31, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. at 105 N. Grant Ave., Columbus.  Tickets are $12 and can be purchased either at the door or through their website at www.madlab.net.

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Krista Threadgill spent her childhood following her parents around the Actors Guild of Parkersburg. After that, she wiled away her summers at Jenny Wiley Amphitheater, and she has performed in two Neil Simon plays. She has an English degree from the Ohio State University.