tales beyond the theatre’s walls

NOW magazine “Fare Game” theatre review
8 min @ Hub coffeehouse

The ghost had never ventured to the ‘front of house’. She had always remained in the dressing room and backstage area. Walter knew this meant more than the end of the run. He knew everything about the ghost and the theatre.
Fifty seat theatre’s don’t usually have eighteen year lifespans but The Abbey had been going strong in downtown Los Angeles long before the recent renaissance of the old lofts. This was thanks to the ghost. She had turned up opening night the week that Monica Schiller the beloved stage manager had died. Walter had felt her cold presence on stage with him at the end of the first act and she’d been managing things ever since.
Monica knew which plays would be the next indie hit and which wouldn’t. The flops inevitably suffered some calamitous mishap early in rehearsal. People thought Walter was a genius Artistic Director.
But now the end of the theatre seemed imminent. She’d terrorized an audience member — a heart attack. The papers called it the production that killed a critic.