A MILD CASE OF THE CREEPS

Ah, Halloween — All Hallows’ Day, Allhallowtide, Jack-o’-lanterns, the madcap lads of West Hollywood, the troops of pint-sized witches, Iron Men and Disney princesses marauding the city’s better neighborhoods lugging trick-or-treat bags bulging with Gummy Bears, Bit-O-Honeys, and Bazooka Gum, and of course the edgy saturnalia that infests Hollywood Boulevard.

Halloween is L.A.’s holiday of holidays.
It is also a time of ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy thespians
And things that go flop in the theatres.

There will be a dozen productions on the stages of L.A.’s theatres or other venues. There’s Steven Vlasak’s Warhol\Frankenstein 4D at Zombie Joe’s Underground, Griffith Park’s Haunted Hayride, and there’s Spooky Movie Night at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. There is also Write Act Repertory’s Tales from the Beyond, at the Brickhouse Theatre, their annual offering of tales of “the uncanny, the unsettling, and the otherworldly,” penned, directed, and acted in by members of their company.

The problem with doing Halloween-themed plays is, with the single exception of Harry Roat’s character leaping across the dark stage in Frederick Knott’s Wait Until Dark, suspense horror is difficult to generate. So productions resort to springing sudden shocks on audiences along the lines of Knott’s Scary Night, or subjecting them to unsettlingly bloody scenes in the style of Grand Guignol. The final option is to take the low road to high camp, as you’ll encounter in the musicals Little Shop of Horrors and Bat Boy.

The five episodes that form Tales From the Beyond are served by a pair of obligatory “Cringe Hosts,” the apparitional Vlad Inkbone (Sean Laraway) and the spunky, demonical Devilyn (Bayley Ellenburg).

Cringe Hosts Sean Laraway as Vlad Inkbone, Bayley Ellenburg as Devilyn (photo by Anne Mesa)

First up is “The Axeman Cometh” by Mark Alan Rice, featuring Alison Rubens as a woman who finds herself opened to life’s bounty through a chance meeting with an amiable ax-wielding serial killer (Gabe Levy). As directed by Abigael Peltonen, the piece comes and goes without leaving a ripple behind.

"The Axeman Cometh" Gabe Legg, Alison Rubens

Next up is Susan C. Hunter’s “The Unbearable Unfairness of Life in the Universe,” directed by Lance Bagley. It is essentially a shaggy dog on the threat of AI replacement, as expounded on by a couple’s chance meeting on a park bench. Ellenburg’s bouncy performance, in counterbeat with Rollence Patugan’s risible grumblings, provides just enough frolic to distract the audience from the realization that the piece itself is rather empty.

"The Unbearable Unfairness of Life in the Universe"
Bayley Ellenburg, Rollence Patugan (photos by Lance Bagley)

The first act ends with “The Last Outpost,” written and directed by Nathaniel Beaver. Based on a short film by Beaver, we are given a sci-fi morality play involving a futuristic warrior (Tony Kim) that calls to mind The Outer Limits. Played out against a backdrop of an intergalactic war of genocide, the work has ambitions beyond its abilities to achieve. The lighting design, fused with crafted projections by Zad Potter, assists all the pieces, but none more so than this one.

"The Last Outpost"
Tony Kim, Margo Rowder, Rollence Patugan, Ramona Yates (photo by Nathaniel Beaver)

The two pieces contained in the second act are the strongest of the evening—and the sketchiest.

Written and directed by Darrin Yalacki, “Castelet Pantin” draws its inspiration from such Twilight Zone episodes as Button, Button (based on the Richard Matheson short story) and The Good Life (featuring the immortal line: “Send it to the cornfield”). Andy (Sonja Hansen) and Cam (Veli Gonzalez) are two unpleasant young girls feasting on deep-fried butter sticks at a cheap carnival and making nuisances of themselves. Finding a pair of discarded puppets, the girls put them on, and assuming the puppets’ personas, they turn their jibes and diatribes at the audience. The conclusion is predictable, but Hansen and Gonzalez bolster the undertaking with delightful nastiness and sharp tongues firmly in their cheeks.

"Castelet Pantin" Veli Gonzalez, Sonja Hansen (photo by Darrin Yalacki)

The closing playlet, “The Ritual,” is a rambling, somewhat silly lampoon of those high school horror flicks where all the cool girls are a coven of witches. Three friends (Margo Rowder, Sarah Clevinger, and Kate Bachelor) have gathered to sacrifice their perky classmate (Constance Jiang) to the devil. Needless to say, their attempt at human sacrifice goes to hell. Bringing their shares of satanic silliness to this piece are Morgan Hill (who may actually be a demon—I’m not sure) and Laraway as the vengeful spirit of Charlie, a dead hamster.

"The Ritual" Kate Bachelor, Margo Rowder, Sarah Clevinger, Constance Jiang (photo by Anne Mesa)

As Halloween entertainment fare, Tales from the Beyond does not have many “treats” to offer its audiences, but there might be enough “tricks” to make the evening worth your time.

photos by Write Act Repertory

Tales from the Beyond
Write Act Repertory
Brickhouse Theatre 10950 Peach Grove St. in North Hollywood
Fri & Sat at 7:30; Sun at 2
ends on October 26, 2025
for tickets ($20-$30), visit Cringe Fest and OnStage411