Paranormal Activity, Shakespeare Theatre Company
How do we tell a scary story? When I was a little girl in a family that had alrea(dy known too much loss, my cousin made up a genre we called Tiffy stories, featuring the eponymous heroine and trafficking in ghosts and zombies and things unnatural. She'd tell us these stories in the dark by firelight, and we'd watch her pace back and forth, torn between leaning in and shrieking away in fear. Later in life, I started to dabble in the occasional scary movies, which used special effects both practical and computer-assisted, and ratcheted up tension through soundscapes and scores. I learned a little about the ways we've scared each other onstage as well, from the grand guignol of France to my lifelong desire to see someone, anyone, do a Pepper's ghost illusion onstage (I had a chance at Disney's Haunted Mansion but the lobby scared me so much as a 9 year old that my sister had to take me back outside while our parents enjoyed the ride). Cher Álvarez in Paranormal...
