29-Hour staged reading: this old haunt

Time isn’t always on your side.

Penelope, Hetty, Selina, and Caroline are high school best friends. At the final concert of the school year, they sing a song they wrote together to honor their retiring choir teacher, Ms. E. Fast forward ten years and they stand in a funeral home at her funeral. One by one, they arrive at Ms. E’s cabin in the woods of Stowe, VT, and see each other for the first time since high school.

As tensions flare up about their current situations, a giant hole opens up in the floor and unravels a time-shifting web of mess and trauma from their pasts: failed engagements, abandoned promises, love triangles, and broken families. As the group collectively realizes the haunting nature of this house, the friends must slip in and out of time to revisit their past selves to shape their group’s future.

this old haunt is a folk musical that explores grief, growing apart, the depth of childhood friendship, and the ownership of memory.

Musical development team

Created by Maggie Marie Rodgers, Rebecca Wahls, and SMJ | Music and Lyrics by Maggie Marie Rodgers | Book and Additional Lyrics by SMJ | Additional Music, Vocal Arrangements, and Orchestrations by Dillon Feldman

A HUGE THANK YOU from Tisch New Theatre to these powerhouse artists.

learn more abou the musical development team

PLAYWRIGHT’S NOTE

Little did Maggie Marie Rodgers, Rebecca Wahls, and I (SMJ) know, but the journey of this old haunt was born during Maggie & I's time at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in the Fall of 2017. this old haunt was born from a song written for the infamous Company Project that concludes the students' semester at the O'Neill. This song caused Rebecca and Maggie to brainstorm the idea of a new musical during the first few months of the Pandemic. I joined the team to write the book in September 2020. Inspired by our collective grief over personal loss, broken promises, and Taylor Swift's folklore, the story began to take shape. Multiple virtual readings were held throughout 2021 via Zoom with different casts nationwide. These readings occurred on May 2, July 10, August 5, and September 25. In November 2021, we were chosen for an MFA Thesis production at Carnegie Mellon University for the 2022-2023 season.

this old haunt was a part of the 2022 Season at Fort Salem Theater in Salem, NY. The week-long workshop culminated in staged readings on July 23 & 24, 2022, and featured Rita Castagna, Ceara Ledwith, Brittany Martz, & Kayla Zanakis. The reading was directed by Rebecca Wahls with dramaturgy by Juju Nieto and music direction by Matthew Zweibel.

Immediately following, after another two weeks of development and a six-week rehearsal process, this old haunt had its Academic Premiere production at Carnegie Mellon University. The production opened on November 19, 2022 and closed on November 30, 2022. The production was directed by Rebecca Wahls with music direction by Billie Jo Miller, dramaturgy by Juju Nieto, and stage management by Maggie Latham. this old haunt at Carnegie Mellon featured Chloe Kaitlyn Brown, Lucy Hall, Isabella Campos, & Annabelle Duffy.

After a six-month hiatus to work on other projects, we met back up and began to dream of a new version of this old haunt. One with a renewed focus on magic, relationships, and messing around with time. During the Fall of 2023, the new two-act version of this old haunt was developed through the Latiné Musical Theatre Lab’s in-person Julia de Burgos Cohort.

Now with Tisch New Theatre, we hope to refocus the story, hear our musical arrangements for the first, and figure out the next steps.

SONG LIST

ACT ONE

1. "storm chaser" - Penelope, Hetty, Caroline, & Selina

2. "un/familar" - Penelope, Hetty, Caroline, & Selina

3. "folklore of me" - Penelope

4. "ouija board - first try" - Penelope, Hetty, Caroline, & Selina

5. "picture" - Caroline & Penelope

6. "the river" - Penelope, Hetty, Caroline, & Selina

7. "fast track" - Penelope, Hetty, Caroline, & Selina

ACT TWO

8. "earl grey" - Penelope

9. "holes" - Hetty & Selina

10. "ouija board - second try" - Penelope, Hetty, Caroline, & Selina

11. "slow burn" - Selina

12. "ouija board - third try" - Penelope, Hetty, Caroline, & Selina

13. "dear you, dear me" - Penelope, Hetty, Caroline, & Selina

14. "saturn's return" - Penelope, Hetty, Caroline, & Selina

FEATURING

Anna Maria Ferrari as Penelope

Sawyers Evans as Hetty

Lily Soto as Selina

Marielle Utayde as Caroline

Samantha Scott as Narrator

production team

Produced by RACHEL AVENI and JULIA FREITAS-GORDON in association with TISCH NEW THEATRE

Assistant Director ERIN AMSTEIN | Music Directors MAYA KILE, ZOË FARAJIAN and CHELSEA MELNICK | Dramaturg BREENE HALABY

Directed by SOFI LOPEZ ARREDONDO

Guitar Accompaniment CONNIE STAUB | Piano Accompaniment MAYA KILE and CHELSEA MELNICK

Photography by FRANCESCA DIMICELI and JESS EICHEN

Banner Art by ARYANA PIROS

CLICK HERE to learn about 29 Hour Staged Readings and why Tisch New Theatre chose to work on this project.

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