A Ghost Story
by Vern Thiessen
adapted from the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne
World Premiere
About this Event
UM Theatre’s fall Mainstage production is a new stage adaption of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s famous gothic novel The House of the Seven Gables, written specifically for our Program’s students by multi-award-winning Canadian playwright Vern Thiessen. This World Premiere production follows a year of development by faculty, staff, and students to bring the script to its final form. Set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1851, the action follows the Pyncheon family, who are haunted by a centuries-old curse after their ancestor unjustly seized a man’s land to build his mansion. Generations later, as the family's fortunes decline, love blooms between a young cousin and a mysterious lodger. Can these two break the cycle of greed and lift the ancestral curse? This multi-generational ghost story explores the tainted legacy of living on stolen land. Thiessen’s epic adaptation of this classic is given a dark and chilling staging by director and UM Associate Professor Dr. Katrina Dunn and is performed by an ensemble cast of sixteen senior Theatre Program student actors. Drawing on horror, suspense, and the gothic for stylistic inspiration, this production reveals the contemporary resonances in Hawthorne’s masterpiece though staging that is haunting, visually arresting, and might just deliver a jump scare or two.
***Audio-described performance: TIme and date TBD. Headsets are available at the lobby table. Please select the audio described ticket type if you will require a headset so we can make sure to provide enough.
Event venue & nearby stays
John J. Conklin Theatre, Gail Asper Performing Arts Hall, 150 Dafoe Rd, WINNIPEG, Canada
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