The Woman in Black

By Stephen Mallatratt
Based on the novel by Susan Hill

“It was nine-thirty on a Christmas Eve…” Arthur Kipps is obsessed with a curse he believes has been cast over him and his family by the specter of a “Woman in Black,” for it is believed that anyone who sees her will die. He hires a skeptical young actor to help him tell his terrifying story to exorcise the fear that grips his soul. Things begin innocently enough, but as they reach further into Arthur’s darkest memories, they find themselves caught up in a world of eerie marshes and moaning winds…

Susan Hill’s acclaimed ghost story is alive and well in this spine-tingler of a play. But it’s more than that. It’s a story of facing your past, reckoning with old and new pain, grieving what has been lost – and finding hope and a way forward.

It is also a love letter to the theater, as our director Philip Hays so aptly noted. It exemplifies just what live theater can do – with a rich story, talented artists, and the robust imaginations of the audience, we can be transported to another world. When you see The Woman in Black, you’ll believe you’re on the eerie moor, on the horse and cart traveling, in the room with a beloved dog. You’ll walk the journey with both characters as they face their past and present.

You will feel with them.

That’s the power of good storytelling. That’s the power of theater.