HOME IS WHERE THE HORROR IS

A boarding house of quiet menace and killer detail

Writer/director Marja-Lewis Ryan is back, and her latest show arrives at The Electric Lodge in Venice with a killer premise and, thankfully, a production that knows exactly how to serve it: not with winks or indulgence, but with precision, restraint, and a creeping sense that something is very, very wrong.

Ryan’s plays, especially One in the Chamber, staged in 2014, are always a welcome relief in the parched desert that is L.A. theater. Yet her productions definitely come in under the radar, so here’s your notice to catch The Best Boarding House in Delaware, a world premiere that’s wholly original while being reminiscent of classics in the vein of Arsenic and Old Lace and Rope. Ryan has long been a writer of emotional intensity, but here she leans into something colder, funnier, and more controlled. The result is a black comedy that doesn’t strain for laughs or shocks—they arrive naturally, and sometimes uncomfortably, out of the situation itself.

It’s no secret that the play is inspired by true-life Dorothea Puente, a woman with a criminal past who ran a social security scam out of her boarding house for seniors in Sacramento. This is definitely one name to look up after you’ve seen… well, you’ll see plenty. Even if you do know the tale of Puente (which I did), Boarding House is less about what happens than how it feels while it’s happening—and thanks to a finely tuned production and a cast that knows exactly how to play it, that feeling lingers.

Set in a ramshackle senior boarding house, the play wastes no time establishing its world—and what a world it is. Scenic designer Michael Fitzgerald has created a space so cluttered, so worn-in, so quietly oppressive that it feels less like a set than a place you’ve stumbled into and can’t quite escape. Every object seems to have a past, every surface a stain or a story. It’s not just detail for detail’s sake—it’s dramaturgy. You understand the characters by what surrounds them.

That sense of unease is sharpened by Diana Herrera’s lighting, which subtly shifts from naturalistic warmth to something more ominous as the play unfolds, and Cricket S. Myers’ astounding sound design, which threads tension throughout. Together, they build a low, sustained hum of dread. Gwen M. Schaeffer’s costumes (with Dominique Dawson consulting) feel pulled directly from these characters’ closets—specific, unshowy, and telling.

Ryan keeps everything moving with an almost deceptive simplicity. There’s no fussing, no over-signaling. The tone walks a fine line between dark comedy and something far more sinister, and she trusts the material—and her actors—to land it.

At the center is Heidi Sulzman, who disappears entirely into Deedee, the boarding house’s caretaker. She’s equal parts frumpy, funny, and faintly terrifying, never tipping her hand too early. Sulzman understands that the role works best when it doesn’t announce itself, and that restraint makes her all the more dangerous.

I never watched the soap Peyton Place, but I distinctly remember Leigh Taylor-Young from the great sci-fi movie Soylent Green, and here she is as Fiona, one of the boarding house residents. There’s a brittle elegance that makes her character feel just out of reach. Her lived-in quality grounds the play in the second act, even as things begin to tilt off balance (have you noticed I’m not giving anything away?).

Michelle Gardner is riveting as Shannon, the niece of a resident, come to take her aunt home. Gardner does something increasingly rare: she listens. Really listens. Her stillness, her attention, the way she processes what’s being said—and what isn’t—makes her impossible to look away from. In a production full of strong performances, she simply pulled me in, drawing focus without ever forcing it.

Jessie Warner rounds out the quartet as a late-in-the-game rep from the titular contest who sets a macabre high-water mark in motion.

Yes, there’s talk of recognition, of being named “the best.” But Ryan’s play quietly asks: best at what, exactly? Keeping up appearances? Keeping secrets? By the time the truth settles in, the idea of a prize feels almost absurd. In this house, winning has a very different meaning. In this house, the real contest isn’t about hospitality. It’s about who gets to stay.

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

photos by Gus Frank

The Best Boarding House in Delaware
Electric Lodge, 1416 Electric Ave. in Venice
Thurs & Fri at 8; Sat & Sun at 3 & 7
ends on April 11, 2026
for tickets, visit Electric Lodge

for more shows, visit Theatre in LA

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦