The campers gather round the fire Heebie Jeebie: Dayana Morales, Randall Swinton, Pryscila Cassiano Salinas, Heather Simsay, Casey Sacco, Brendan Feingold (Photos by Morgan Sophia Photography )
By Britin Haller
Halloween season is full of tricks and treats, and do we have a treat for you. Running through October 12, from Producing Artistic Director Matt Stabile and the Theatre Lab at the Heckscher Theatre in Boca Raton comes a spooky and witty anthology play that’s sure to give you the, dare we say it, heebie jeebies.
Once a year, the Heckscher Theatre puts on a production suitable for families. Specifically commissioned for this occasion, returning playwright Gina Montét brings her world premiere of Heebie Jeebies: Tales from the Midnight Campfire to both little and big thrillseekers.
Poor Charlie. Her parents have sent her to summer camp to keep her out of trouble, but that’s the last place she wants to be, so when she sees an opportunity to get off the bus, she takes it. Her plan is to walk to the nearest town, but little does she know the nearest town is five miles south and only accessible by traversing through a deep dark woods. And her cell phone has died.
Just when Charlie starts to realize that ditching the bus driver might not have been the best idea in retrospect, she stumbles upon a group of teenagers gathered around a fire and wearing yellow Camp Yaputka t-shirts. Great, she thinks, all that walking only to end up in camp anyway. They seem nice enough, but it’s only when she tries to leave that they inform Charlie she must sit through an all-night storytelling scare fest, and if she doesn’t make it through the night, she’ll be stuck there, possibly forever it sounds like, in a flea-infested cabin surrounded by hungry bears, wolves, and mountain lions.
In a lovely callback to one of campfire ghost stories most classic yarns, Charlie asks “Scary stories? You mean like who’s got my golden arm?” Exactly like that, they say.
What does the word Yaputka mean, Charlie wants to know. It’s the sensation that someone is watching you, they tell her. The woods are full of heebie jeebies, they explain, as were we when one of the campers mentioned Fonzie and The A-Team. Dated cultural references to be sure, and ones that make us go hmmm.
So with really no other options ahead of her, Charlie agrees to listen to their creepy tales of woe, and the campers, and Charlie, take seats around the fire. And so begins a delightful series of vignettes sure to shock and amuse you with a cast of six principals in varying roles, including Pryscila Cassiano Salinas as Charlie, the lost babe in the woods.
In BEAUTY GENIE, a teenage girl named Taylor (Cassiano Salinas) gets a delivery that will change her life, and not for the better, when she expresses regret over her looks. “If I can’t be pretty, at least I’ll be smart,” she tells us, but then a coffin-shaped box arrives at her door. A wish granter, if you will, but be careful, Taylor, because each wish comes with a price. Casey Sacco as Taylor’s best friend, and Randall Swinton as her father, add to the eerie factor. Shout-out to Casey Venema, a graduate student at FAU who lends her gorgeous voice to the Beauty Genie.
In a bit that’s reminiscent of the 1972 horror film Frogs, is one we like to call “frog dissection,” which likely brings up PTSD in more than one audience member who can recall that day in science class with way too much detail. This time, it’s Brendan Feingold as Chris, a failing student who really needs to pass this class for all the wrong reasons and isn’t above cheating to do so. So when Chris screws the dissection up royally, and switches his tray out with his classmate, Robin, a brainiac who is planning on going into frog conservation, all hell breaks out in frogland. The frog puns make us hoppy, and Randall Swinton as Robin is toadally adorable here. Casey Sacco as Chris’s girlfriend, Morgan, and Dayana Morales as Professor Newt (see what they did there?) add to the enjoyment of RIBBIT. We were ribbited from beginning to end.
It’s almost impossible to decide which of the two tales, MR. CUDDLES or MY BLANKEE, were more entertaining because they are each incredible in their own right and rely heavily on special effects and Theatre Lab’s terrific technical team. Without giving the twist away, we’d probably give a nod to MY BLANKEE because it’s an homage to this critic’s favorite movie, but MR. CUDDLES deserves all the accolades as well.
In MR. CUDDLES, a young girl named Sydney (Heather Simsay) doesn’t have any friends, except her imaginary oversized stuffed bear, and her parents decide to do something about that, inviting a few of Sydney’s classmates over for a slumber party in her bedroom. The schoolmates don’t even like Sydney, but attend anyway because the popcorn is good. When a game of Truth or Dare gets out of hand, and Sydney is pressed to answer the question “What’s your biggest secret?” Mr. Cuddles springs into action to protect his little pal.
As the mean girls, Sacco, Dayana Morales, and Randall Swinton pull out all the stops, relying on their physicality to get the biggest laughs, and screams, of the night. Suffice it to say, it’s a slumber party they’re never going to forget.
But it’s MY BLANKEE that stole our hearts with what can best be described as a blanket ballet that is so stunning it got its own round of applause. When a babysitter named Jordan (Simsay) shows up to the house of what is obviously a famous film horror family, minus the father, she is greeted by the mom (Sacco) who can’t wait to get out of there, and a full-of-red-flags son (Brendan Feingold) who doesn’t blink, and is more than mildly obsessed with his haunted blanket. Saying anything more here would give away the gag that is also not included in the press photos for good reason.
There aren’t enough accolades for the design team of Michael McClain (scenic), Eric Nelson (lighting), Joel Rodriguez (sound), Timothy Bowman (costumes), and Aubrey Kestell-Rodriguez (props). To pull off the amazing special effects, lighting and sound often have to be perfectly timed. Some standouts in these two departments are the Beauty Genie voice-overs, the frog croaking, the campfire, and the blanket ballet for which we fully expected to see a choreography credit in the playbill because the movements are that precise.
We’re certainly not going to be the ones to tell Mr. Cuddles that he’s only a prop because he is so lifelike. And the costumes are great fun, especially the green frogs (those are costumes, right? right??), and the overalls that the mom in MY BLANKEE wears that resemble the attire of the character she is based on in one of the most suspenseful scenes in that movie. This brilliant detail will likely go over most theater-goers’ heads, but not the one of this horror film-buff. Whether this choice was script-dictated, or came later, we love these overalls so much.
So in the end, what will happen to our fearless heroine? Will Charlie make it through the night, or will she be stuck at Camp Yaputka forever, or worse yet, will she be eaten by a hungry bear? And who are these campers who keep mentioning all the gruesome ways to die in the woods anyway? And why are they here?
All will be revealed, well mostly, … in due time. But until then, if you see a campfire in a clearing with some teenagers in yellow t-shirts, keep going, and just take your chances with the bears.
While the kids in the crowd had a blast, Heebie Jeebies: Tales from the Midnight Campfire might be too scary for younger children, although a two-year-old near us seemed to really enjoy it. This show promises “thrills and mild chills” and is recommended for ages seven and up. Heebie Jeebies comes with a warning of blacklights, strobe lights, dry ice, and loud sounds, but as a person with sensory issues, thankfully we had no problems.
Before the show, arrive early to enjoy free creative writing workshops for grades 4-12 on Saturdays at 2 p.m., yummy s’mores on Saturdays starting at 6 p.m., and arts and crafts on Sundays at 2 p.m., and/or listen to lobby music reminiscent of Disney’s Haunted Mansion.
PS: While frog dissection is still a part of most schools’ cirrculums, we are happy to report that biology students are no longer required to physically dissect them and may choose to either refrain altogether, or perform the task virtually. Neither choice will negatively affect their grade.
Heebie Jeebies: Tales from the Midnight Campfire runs through October 12 at Theatre Lab on the campus of Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton; Plays 7.p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; Running time approx. 70 minutes with no intermission. Tickets start at $25 for the general public, with reduced pricing available for students and children. Call 561-297-6124 or visit https://fauevents.universitytickets.com.
Britin Haller is a journalist, editor-for-hire, and an author who serves on the board of directors for the Mystery Writers of America Florida Chapter. As a celebrity wrangler, Brit regularly rubbed elbows with movie stars, sports stars, and rock stars, and as a media escort, she toured with New York Times bestselling authors.
Brendan Feingold, Heather Simsay, Dayana Morales, Casey Sacco
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