Join Mouse River Players Community Theater for the start of our 2025-2026 season as we present The Haunting of Hill House, September 19 – 21 and 26 – 28. Friday and Saturday performances start at 7:30pm and Sunday performances start at 2:00pm. The box office will open one hour prior to show start time and the doors to the theater will open 30 minutes prior to show time.
The Haunting of Hill House is adapted for the stage by F. Andrew Leslie from the novel of the same name by Shirley Jackson. The menacing manor home is remotely located and shunned by all who know its forbidding and sinister reputation. The desolation of the house is interrupted by Dr. Montague, played by Michael Merchant, and his team of researchers who are trying to study the supernatural phenomena that has given Hill House its reputation. The doctor has invited Eleanor and Theodora, played by Wardah Husain and Nicole Swain to join his research team. Both have past histories of paranormal experiences. The third participant, played by Dorian Garland, is Luke Sanderson, the current owner’s nephew who was sent to monitor the team and assist the investigation. As the team members arrive, they are greeted by the grumbling housekeeper Mrs. Dudley, played by Amy Jenkins, who only performs the tasks she has agreed to do and does not remain at the house after dark. Isolated from the outside world, the cast of characters try to discover the forces which Hill House commands.
The team exchange jovial introductions to break the tension and find camaraderie and trust in each other but Hill House soon puts their sensibilities to the test. The eeriness of Hill House is felt almost immediately by each of the researchers, leaving them with uneasiness and curiosity about the house’s past and the mysterious tower which doesn’t seem to fit into the architecture. As they struggle to disguise their mounting fears they are joined by Dr. Montague’s wife, played by Dalyce Leslie and her companion, Arthur Parker, played by Connor Donovan, who have come to Hill House with strategies of their own. They too are enhralled by the supernatural, but their approach is via direct communication with the departed spirits—a type of psychic research which is regarded skeptically by Dr. Montague and which, as subsequent events bear out, brings on a crisis in which the evil forces of Hill House are impelled to a new and, for one of those present, fatal fury.
Tim Knickerbocker is directing his fourth production at Mouse River Players. He has always enjoyed a good psychological drama, and Hill House was the perfect fit to explore the genre. Tim says, “while there have been several adaptations of the story in movies and TV shows over time, few have followed the original novel’s focus on psychological suspense in the audience’s’ minds.” During Tim’s 23 years volunteering with MRP, the theater has not explored this type of drama and he thought it was time to give our patrons a chance to “get a little nervous.” “I would hesitate,” says Tim, “to bring children under the age of 13 to see the show unless they have a strong constitution and don’t mind getting scared.”
Tickets are on sale now at www.mouseriverplayers.com or on show dates at the box office. Prices are $15.00 for general admission, $13.00 for students, military, and seniors, and $10 for children twelve and under. Reserve now to begin your spooky fall season.
