About the Play:

The Haunting of Hill House is a full-length dramatic mystery adapted for the stage by F. Andrew Leslie, from the novel by Shirley Jackson. This chilling mystery follows a small group of psychically-receptive people who are brought together in Hill House, a brooding mansion known as a place of evil. Led by supernatural researcher Dr. Montague, the potential ghostbusters probe the secrets of the old house and draw forth its mysterious powers that have brought madness and death to its previous residents.

The Haunting of Hill House a chilling and mystifying study in mounting terror that tells the tale of three "psychically receptive" individuals brought together by Dr. Montague, a professor with an interest in the supernatural, to uncover the secrets of Hill House, an abandoned, mid-Victorian mansion known as a place of evil and "contained ill will." Cut off from the outside world by its remote location and shunned by all who know its forbidding and sinister reputation, Hill House has remained empty and silent except for the daily visits of its grumbling caretaker, Mrs. Dudley. Its isolation is broken by the arrival of Dr. Montague, an investigator of supernatural phenomena who has been granted a short lease by the present owner. His mission is to delve into the morbid history of the house and to come to grips with the occult forces that have made it uninhabitable for many years. He is joined by three others, all unacquainted, but all having their particular reasons for accepting Dr. Montague's invitation to share his Hill House sojourn. Their visit begins with jovial informality, but their sensibilities are soon jolted by strange and eerie occurrences. As they struggle to disguise their mounting fears they are joined by Dr. Montague's wife and a friend, who have come to Hill House for purposes of their own. They too are absorbed by the supernatural, but their approach is via direct communication with the departed spirits – a type of psychic research which is regarded fearfully by Dr. Montague and which, as subsequent events bear out, brings on a crisis in which the evil forces of Hill House are goaded to a new and, for one of those present, fatal fury.

The Haunting of Hill House was adapted for the stage in 1964 by F. Andrew Leslie, from the celebrated Gothic ghost novella by Shirley Jackson, hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. In his book, Danse Macabre, Stephen King refers to The Haunting of Hill House as one of the most important horror novels of the 20th century. The Wall Street Journal regards the novel as, "the greatest haunted-house story ever written." The play has become a popular choice for school and community theatre productions.

Cast: 4 female, 3 male

About the Playwright:

F. Andrew Leslie (1927-2015) specialized in stage versions of movies, adapting either the novels from which the films were made or the screenplays themselves. He was associated with the Dramatists Play Service for 30 years until retiring, as its President in 1990. Before joining the Play Service he was an artists representative with a major New York concert management company, an agent at the William Morris Agency, and a manager for the distinguished actor Maurice Evans.

Shirley Jackson (1919-1965) was an American short-story writer and novelist. She first received wide critical acclaim for The Lottery, which was published in The New Yorker in 1948 and went on to become one of the most anthologized stories in American literature. She is the author of six novels, including The Haunting of Hill House. Authors including Stephen King, Nigel Kneale, Richard Matheson, and Neil Gaiman all credit Shirley Jackson as a source of inspiration.