ST. SEBASTIAN PLAYERS HONORS
SHIRLEY JACKSON’S EERIE INTELLECT

There are more than a few reasons to head over to Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood and catch the St. Sebastian Player’s (SSP) production of The Haunting of Hill House. Chief among them is that it reintroduces us to one of the most interesting and underrated Gothic fiction and horror writers of the age, Shirley Jackson. If The Haunting of Hill House counts as a reliable indicator of Jackson’s approach to the genre, she addresses it with a sensitivity and intellectual perspective that are extremely rare and engagingly astute, making the precepts she raises in her writings provocatively interesting.

Natali Chavez, Japo Parcero and Siena Merlin Moraff

Jackson penned this thriller in 1959, and Netflix’s 2018 spin on the novel, presented as a ten-episode series, likely owes its popularity to its adherence to Jackson’s sensibilities concerning the paranormal and the macabre. In this F. Andrew Leslie adaptation, SSP and director Jack Dugan Carpenter are to be commended for making Jackson’s special essence so palpable in their current presentation of her story.

A scientist has invited two people who have either experienced a supernatural episode or have confirmed paranormal gifts to help him determine what makes Hill House—an isolated 80-year-old mansion six miles from the nearest town—so frightening that it’s virtually uninhabitable. Dr. Montague (David R. Feiler) also invites the eventual heir to the mansion, Luke Sanderson (Tony DiPisa), to join in on the effort.

Siena Merlin Moraff and Japo Parcero

Emil Zbella’s set of a formal gathering room in a great house, swathed in rococo opulence, establishes a luxurious and portentous mood well before any action starts. On every surface and from every angle, there seem to be very quiet suggestions of the impending. It’s there Mrs. Dudley (Natali Chavez) brings Eleanor (Siena Merlin Moraff) and Theodora (Japo Parcero) to wait for their host, Dr. Montague.

Crisp to the point of severity and with a didacticism that borders on rudeness, Mrs. Dudley is so cold and bleak she’s comical. Chavez infuses a particularly savory tartness to her role when she reminds the two young women they’re miles away from help and that nobody will hear them when they scream. Eleanor and Theodora share a laugh about the housekeeper’s overly dour demeanor while getting acquainted with each other. As a child, Eleanor went through a period when poltergeists plagued the home she grew up in. Theodora possesses a pronounced gift for psychological prediction.

The cast of The Haunting of Hill House

When Dr. Montague finally joins them, he explains how unusual the house is and has always been from the moment of its construction. It doesn’t seem to harm people directly but is the catalyst that drives people to either harm themselves or flee from it in terror. With their help and that of Luke, Montague wants to test his theories on psychic phenomena. The plan is to analyze what happens during their stay. He prefaces the experiment with his own take on the house itself, giving it attributes you’d associate with a person—implying the house could be sick, disturbed, causing it to inflict distress on or haunt those who dwell in it. It’s an intriguing notion, and one that would be amplified later in the play.

In the meantime, thanks to Sean Smyth’s wily sound design and Ellie Humphrys’ finely orchestrated lighting, things get plenty scary deep into the first night. As stalwart and intrepid as Eleanor and Theodora profess to be in the face of the unknown, there were heart-rendering screams. As all four analyzed what they experienced the next day, they came to a tacit agreement that the house did seem to be gauging them, assessing their vulnerabilities.

Siena Merlin Moraff and David R. Feiler

Whatever strategy they may have formulated in response to that first night is shattered with the arrival of Dr. Montague’s wife. A petite general in satin, Mrs. Montague (Jill Chukerman Test) rolls in like Caesar reclaiming an errant territory. Accompanied by Arthur Parker (Russ Gager), her pistol-toting man Friday, she smugly belittles everyone and snatches the reins from her husband. She and Planchet, a spirit who advises her when conducting these kinds of investigations, decisively take over.

Mrs. Montague’s appearance is a jolt, and there are other quizzical peculiarities that arise. We never learn what advantages Eleanor and Theodora’s background and experiences were to have brought to Dr. Montague’s investigation of Hill House—or why an ever-growing stridency eventually consumes Moraff’s otherwise quite proficient role as Eleanor.

Russ Gager, Jill Chukerman Test, Japo Parcero, David Feiler and Russ Gager

These concerns take a backseat to the beliefs Mrs. Montague presents in her effort to learn what makes Hill House such a potent danger. She and her spirit muse believe compassion and love are the things needed to heal this tormented edifice. A radically counterintuitive tenet, it’s one The Haunting of Hill House’s author may have shared. Jackson, who during stages of her writing career proclaimed herself to be a witch, might naturally have harbored a similar empathy for the unknown and the misunderstood.

Nestled in suspense and dabbled with fright, The Haunting of Hill House gives your mind something a little extra to mull during this season of goblins and ghouls. Winning performances, particularly those by Parcero and Test, add requisite sweets to the deal.

Japo Parcero, Jill Chukerman Test and Russ Gager

photos by Sean Smyth photography

The Haunting of Hill House
St. Sebastian Players
St. Bonaventure, 1625 W. Diversey Pkwy.
ends on November 9, 2025
for tickets, visit St. Sebastian Players

for more shows, visit Theatre in Chicago