With the price of housing what it is, a haunted house can scare in more ways than one. In their reprise of the site-specific Halloween show Rizing, Island performers Abby Bender and Jesse Jason explore the role of a house as commodity and as living memory, even when the holders of those memories are not so living.
“We barely had to do anything to the house — it was already perfect,” Ms. Bender told the Gazette after her performances on Saturday.
Shows began last weekend and will continue this weekend through Nov. 2.
The performance space, a densely-packed Oak Bluffs cottage off Ocean Park, belongs to Ms. Bender’s aunt and uncle, who did not take offense when she asked to use it for a Halloween show.
“They were completely supportive,” she said. “We were very, very lucky to be able to come back and use the space again.”
The first marks of fantasy emerge when the audience is invited to play the role of prospective homeowners, viewing a seaside cottage brimming with history. Ms. Bender, as the Zillow realtor Trish, escorts participants through multiple kitchens, bedrooms and staircases, each with their own story to tell.
“The trees come with the house, you know!” she chirps as she leads the audience up to the porch where the shenanigans begin.
“That line always kills me,” cast member Lucy Grinnan said. “It’s completely improvised but it’s the best one.”
The show has swapped in a half-dozen new cast members since last year’s performance but its bones are largely intact. A woman with “restless leg syndrome” spider-crawls down one of the house’s three staircases; two veterans find an outlet for forbidden love in their sleep talking. As residents of Zizzner’s Home for Tired Travelers, each character highlights the thin thread of sanity a few sleepless nights can lay bare.
“I gave each performer a general outline of the character, but from there they can make it their own,” said Ms. Jason, who choreographed each performance. “It’s always a collaboration.”
Collaboration is the most exciting part for Ms. Jason and Ms. Bender, who first joined forces in the 2020 site performance (Un)Exquisite Corpse at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum. Since Rizing had already been written and performed last year, Ms. Bender said that most of the work this time focused on revising and perfecting the piece.
“Whenever you get a chance to revamp a work it gets stronger with time,” she said.
There’s no way Rizing could exist without the specifics of its physical space, Ms. Bender added. Some performances are meticulously timed while others are improvised to heighten the sense of chaos. The writing process began with a walk-through, where Ms. Bender and Ms. Jason timed how long it would take to move through each room and how much time for performance that allowed.
“It’s actually kind of easier than starting from scratch,” Ms. Bender said. “It gives you structure and limitations to work within.”
From there, the characters were formed and sharpened with the help of collaborator Molly Coogan, whose additions include the show’s signature Z motif.
“It was also Molly’s idea to make Trish from Zillow,” Ms. Bender said. “Before we had her working for Remax.”
In the midst of blood-curdling screams and bumps that go in the night, Trish becomes a welcome throughline imbuing levity into an otherwise very creepy excursion. Cinematic elements made by filmmaker Danielle Mulcahy help expand the performance’s world even in the narrowest of hallways.
“Whatever the opposite of open concept is, that’s this house,” Ms. Bender said.
At several points, the confined quarters bring the audience face-to-face with a performer, and sometimes dangerously face-to-foot.
“I never worry about kicking a person,” said dancer Katie Federowicz, who plays the woman with restless legs.
“That’s part of having trust and having an awareness of your body,” Ms. Jason echoed, adding that those are the two qualities she most looks for in a collaborator.
It’s fair to say the show’s finale brings the house down, but Ms. Bender is already thinking about how to shake things up for next year.
“It all depends on what comes our way and what spaces are available to us,” she said. “But yes, I have ideas.”
May every good idea find a home.
Remaining showtimes are Oct. 28, 29 and 31 at 6, 7:15 and 8:30 p.m.; and Oct. 30 and Nov. 2 at 6 and 7:15 p.m.
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