I attended a midnight performance of Evil Dead The Musical at New World Stages in NYC in February 2007, sat in the Splash Zone, and was soaked by fake blood, even through the plastic poncho. I didn’t care – I had a blast! The book and lyrics by George Reinblatt and music by Frank Cipolla, Christopher Bond, Melissa Morris, and George Reinblatt were hysterical and goofy, and bloody good.
And now Landless Theatre Company is in charge of the evil. In this interview, Artistic director Matt Baughman, Director Melissa Baughman, choreographer Karissa Swanigan, and designers Jen Tonon, Jared Davis, and Elizabeth Reeves take us through the challenges of obtaining the rights to the show, directing the production, creating the choreography, special effects, set, and costumes for – and setting it all in the small DCAC space.
Andrew Baughman (Artistic Director/Jake/Moose – the Puppet)
Joel: What is Evil Dead The Musical about?
Andrew: Evil Dead The Musical is based on Sam Raimi’s horror film trilogy about a group of young folks who read a passage from the Necronomicon and unleash a horde of Candarian demons upon the Earth.
Joel: How did you obtain rights to the show?
Andrew: Wow – what an adventure that was! Truth be told, I’ve been trying to secure the rights to this show for at least two years. I first had a brief email correspondence with George Reinblatt back at a time when they really weren’t ready to release the rights to regional companies. Then I spent a long time badgering a nice gentleman at Samuel French – it wasn’t all bad, at one point he said “well, you’ll have to check back in a year, but in the meantime I can let you do this new musical called Gutenberg.” I hadn’t even heard of Gutenberg at that point, but it worked out really well for us. I knew the day would come when we’d get to do Evil Dead, and I think it’s here at the right time.
Joel: Have you invited creators George Reinblatt, Christopher Bond, Frank Cipolla, and Melissa Morris to come see the show?
Andrew: No. I’m not sure how to get in touch with them now, but would love to have them come.
Joel: Why is Evil Dead The Musical a Landless-type show?
Andrew: Well, for one thing, it has been the most requested show from our patrons. I have gotten many emails over the years saying “please do Evil Dead The Musical!!!”
Joel: Talk about Jake and Moose, who you play in the show.
Andrew: I made a bargain with Melissa when we got the rights: I would play Jake only if I got to puppeteer the Moose. It’s about a three minute cameo bit in the show, but I howled the first time I heard Moose on the soundtrack. Jake turned out to be a fun role, too – he’s pretty much your standard non-descript creepy redneck guy who hangs around mysteriously in the woods. Jake has a great random Meatloaf-esque song and lines with phrases like “hooha jibber jabber.”
Joel: What’s your favorite song and scene in the show?
Andrew: I don’t think you could print them title of my favorite song, but it’s Jake’s swan song and I get to really soak the audience.
Joel: What are the weirdest things that have happened during rehearsal?
Andrew: We performed preview shows this season up at the Frederick Cultural Arts Center in Frederick. It’s an old building, and we experienced a lot of weird things during our tech week up there… I saw what appeared to be a floating face in the doorway to the theatre basement, Karissa (Swanigan) felt as though something was touching her at one point, and Melissa and our lighting designer Carey heard a lot of strange noises when working late at night. It’s a silly show, but we were a little worried that we stirred up something in that place somehow.
Joel: What do you want audiences to take with them when they leave the DCAC after seeing Evil Dead The Musical?
Andrew: A lot of bloodstains. 🙂
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Melissa Baughman (Director)
Joel: What is it about Evil Dead The Musical that made you want to direct this show?
Melissa: I am a HUGE fan of the Evil Dead Trilogy, so when I found out about a musical based on it, I began pitching the show to Andy. I love horror, so it was right up my alley.
Joel: Have you ever directed a slasher musical before?
Melissa: No. I have directed many horror plays and horror musicals, but not one that was a slasher before, so this is very exciting!
Joel: What challenges were/are you having working in the small DCAC space?
Melissa: The biggest challenge was figuring out how to put a functioning cabin in DCAC. When we did Night of the Living Dead, we did a partial house set, but this had to be full out for Evil Dead. So that was crazy trying to figure out the logistics. I think DCAC is a great venue for this show, though, since the splash zone is actually the whole theatre!
Joel: Introduce us to the cast.
Melissa: The cast is really awesome! Playing Ash is Clay Comer. He is a big fan of the movies, and really channeled Bruce Campbell. He does this great transition from being mild-mannered Ash to Hero Ash. We’ve got Karissa Swanigan playing Ash’s lonely sister Cheryl. She’s got such great comedic and vocal talent that we knew she had to play this dynamic role. Zehra Fazal plays Shelly/Annie. Zehra is such a talented performer. She really does a standout performance as Annie, and is hilarious as the bubble-brained Shelly. Natalie Pyle plays Linda, Ash’s girlfriend who is doomed to be a deadite. Natalie’s audition was amazing. She really nailed being possessed. I know Sam Raimi would be proud.
Matt Baughman plays Scott, Ash’s best friend, who is also the jerk of the show. Matt’s a great comedic actor, so he’s brought a whole level of hilarity to the role. Mickey DaGuiso plays Ed, Annie’s boyfriend/doormat. Mickey is fabulous. Not only is he a wonderful vocalist, but he is incredibly funny as Ed. He took this seemingly blah character and made him one of the funniest elements in the show. Jen Tonon is a deadite, deadite Shelly, Beaver, S-mart shopper, and the madwoman behind the effects. Jen is at home in horror, and she’s got this awesome sense of subtle humor that makes her such a fun performer in this crazy show. And Andrew plays Jake/ Moose. When I heard the cast CD, I told Andy that he would be perfect for Jake, because Jake has such rockin’ moments, and I knew Andy could sing the hell out of it. Andy is hilarious as Jake, and his Moose is spot-on.
Joel: Talk about the Splash Zone.
Melissa: The Splash Zone is the best place to be! Seriously, that was the first challenge we had to consider when given the prospect of doing the show. We had to talk to DCAC and make sure that it would be okay to spray their theatre every night, and to ensure that it didn’t become a bloody swimming pool. People come for the blood, so we are giving it to them full-on! I suspect there won’t be a dry seat in the house.
Joel: What are the most difficult scene to direct?
Melissa: The scene that was a hair-puller was the end scene at S-mart. It took a while to figure out how to go from being in the cabin with blood and demons, and then a second later being in S-mart, with shoppers. it definitely has taken some careful planning.
Joel: What is your favorite song and scene in the show?
Melissa: I have two favorite songs: “Good Ol’ Reliable Jake” and “What the F@#$ Was That?”. My favorite scene is where the house becomes possessed, and Ash has to take some drastic measures.
Joel: Talk about your vision for the “look” of the show.
Melissa: Jared Davis built us a fantastic set! He took the look of the film and integrated it into his own style. Elizabeth Reeves designed the costumes, and took elements from the film and gave each character some throwback to that original look. Ash’s costume had to be identical to the film since he is such an iconic character. Carey Rausch designed lights and she has captured the eeriness in her use of colors. Jen Tonon is the effects director (working with Steven Grainger as designer), and their experience doing film has been extremely beneficial. They have been the mad scientists of the show, plotting and planning and making mixtures. We wanted tons of blood and they really made that happen!
Joel: Where is your favorite seat in the house?
Melissa: Well, if you want to get the full-on splash, front and center. Personally, I like the middle since you get splashed, but the bodies in front of you absorb the initial blow.
Joel: What do you want audiences to take with them when they leave the DCAC after seeing Evil Dead The Musical?
Melissa: I want people to come and have a great time. This is not a typical theatre experience where you sit in your seat, safe from the gritty action. You will get sprayed with blood, you will have a blast, and you will want to come back for more!
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Karissa Swanigan (Choreographer/Cheryl):
Joel: Describe the choreography you created for Evil Dead
Karissa: I would say a general theme is Contortion, Claws, and Cramped Spaces! It was really important to Melissa and I that the Deadites looked broken and possessed, so we asked the cast to move in ways that were unnatural and awkward. “The Claw” is exactly what you think it is. The dances involve a lot of claw-like hand shapes and you will see versions of that appear throughout. Also, space was very limited, so the numbers are very tight and precise. As always, I like to put a little humor into my choreography…or at least stuff I think is funny…. So it’s twisted, funny, tiny, claw dances and more! Yeah!
Joel: What were/are your biggest challenges?
Karissa: The biggest challenge was how much space we have to dance in. The set is so fantastic, but there is little open space and it has lots of levels and angles. I had to come up with moves that were interesting but contained. I also don’t want us to look cramped, so I use the levels, and I tried to create a lot of big body moves with very little traveling.
Joel: You are also playing Cheryl in the show. Tell us about her and how you relate to the character.
Karissa: Cheryl is Ash’s sister and the single one on the trip. He might be bringing her along out of pity… she definitely didn’t have any spring break plans. I think she is a little socially awkward and nervous, but smart and strong in her own right. She says what she feels and she is who she is and that doesn’t always help her fit in with the group. She isn’t there to party, she would prefer some quiet time to read and relax.
I actually can really relate to her in many ways. I used to have major issues fitting in, in grade school. I was a good girl (until high school – (he!he!) So maybe my high school “bad girl” is more like Evil Cheryl) and I was/am stubborn and awkward. I grew out of some of that, but I am still totally goofy and actually feel nervous in social situations a lot! Sometimes I would just rather be at home, on the couch, with Nick and our cats, watching the scifi network. Oh, and I am easily spooked too.
Joel: What was the most difficult song to choreograph?
Karissa: The finale, “Blew That “B” Away”. It’s the longest song, has the most cast members dancing in that small space, and it’s the finale, so it has to be great – right!?! I am actually really happy with how it turned out.
Joel: What is your favorite choreographed moment in the show?
Karissa: I am loving “We Will Never Die” right now. It contains a section of really quick locking/robotic moves and when the cast hits it really hard and exact, it looks super cool!
Joel: Who is the best dancer in the cast, and who is the member of the cast who has 2 left feet?
Karissa: This is really hard because I am so impressed with everyone…. Darn it. OK – the one who stands out whenever I choreograph is Matt Baughman, because he always puts his own special flair into the dance moves, and I really enjoy seeing what he comes up with.
No one has two left feet and I know that isn’t what you want to hear, but I am not fallin’ for it, Mr.! I dare you to find anyone who isn’t killin’ it out there. Jen’s contortions, Natalie’s amazing facial expressions, Mickey’s toe tapping and nibble kicking, Zerha’s sultry hip moves, Clay’s strong manly stomping, Andy’s solo heartfelt step touching, Matt’s pop flava’…..it’s all gold!
OK, I was having a little fun there (and I hope they like that) but seriously, there isn’t a weak link in the bunch because they each are so truly committed to these characters and it comes through in their dancing. They did everything I asked of them and more and this was truly one of those special show experiences for me.
Joel: This is the first show you’ve appeared in and choreographed since you were in Diamond Dead in the NYC Fringe Festival, were named DC Theatre Scene’s musical theatre performer of the year, and got engaged to Nick. Care to reflect on these wonderful moments of the last year?
Karissa: I think I will look back on this time in my life as one of the happiest, most exciting times. And busiest! I am also turning 30 in May, and finally feeling really comfortable with who I am, and where I am right now in my life. It’s been a long journey to get to this place, and I am so grateful to be here. I am so grateful to everyone who has come into my life, and everything I have been through. It has made me a better performer and person. I feel like all these adventures, and new accomplishments, and welcome surprises, are coming at the perfect time, when I need it most, will learn the most from it, and be most thankful for it. This is a really special time.
Joel: Where is your favorite seat in the house?
Karissa: If I were in the house…oh – front and center baby…I would be in that splash zone!
Joel: What do you want audiences to take with them after seeing Evil Dead The Musical?
Karissa: I would love if people walk away covered in blood, quoting Ash, and feeling like they were really part of that crazy night in the woods – like they had a truly unique theatre experience and lot of fun.
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Jared Davis (Set Design/Construction & Painting):
Joel: Tell us a little about yourself.
Jared: Well, my day job is scene shop manager for Arlington County Cultural Affairs. I have the best job in the world. I get to work with all levels of theater, professional, semi-pro and amateur, which is really great, because I often have to switch from being mentor to student on a dime. One of the fringe benefits is that I get clandestine access to the scene shop, where I can work on non-county related shows, like the things I design for Landless (please don’t tell my boss). As far as my designer training is concerned, I have a degree in painting from Wayne State University, in Detroit, but I don’t have a degree in theater; its just something I have always done. My most formal training in scenic design was a masterclass with Ming Cho Lee in 2002, which really broke it wide open for me. I realized that design for the stage involved a collaborative process that the designer(s) and director have to go through, and the masterclass really gave me the proper tools to make that work effectively.
Since I am trained as a painter, I try to design (and paint) every set with an eye towards painting. I love painting big. I love painting backdrops. I haven’t been a fan of designs where it’s all painting textures, which is all the big name designers seem to want these days (I’m talkin’ to YOU Tony Cisek!) I find that boring for everyone involved. I’m an artist (as most scenic artists are), and I feel that it is a waste not to use the artistic talents of people who can paint stunning backdrops. Of course, I wind up painting almost everything I design, which is great because I don’t have to dumb down any of the painting. My painting bias has worked particularly well for Landless. You may not know this, but every show at the DCAC (well, every show before Evil Dead) that Landless produces – needs to pack up in 15 minutes, into a 6 foot high by 4 foot wide space, usually by two female stagehands. With those kinds of constraints, I have been forced to rely on painted scenery!
Joel: Tell us about your contribution to the design of the show.
Jared: Design, Build, Paint, Install. I have been quite intimate with this set. Landless doesn’t have a lot of stock scenery because of the limitations of the DCAC space, so I had to build (with the help of a few “all hands on deck” nights at the shop) almost everything you see on stage. I also painted all of it; largely single handedly (primer coat shout-outs to Amanda Williams and Brittney McLean). I was able to work with Melissa on the design, but really, lots of things were determined by the size of the DCAC space. There are only so many ways that this show can be configured in such a small area. It really became about giving the SFX people (Jen, Steven and Amanda) places to work their magic, and how small a space does an actor need to safely walk behind (or under) the set.
Joel: What was the most challenging thing for you to design?
Jared: Where is all of the blood going to go? We realized that it was going to be a messy show, and we couldn’t have the actors slipping on pools of blood during the dance numbers. We knew that the audience would only be able to absorb a fraction of what was going to be, er, spilled… The solution was to try to capture as much as we could underneath the deck. So, that’s why the “cabin in the woods” has a planked deck for its flooring; to allow the blood to run-off between the planks. The blood gets collected every night by removing one of the planks and sucking it out with a shop vac.
Joel: What scene was the hardest for you to design, and which scene was the most fun to design?
Jared: That’s a hard question because I didn’t approach the design from a “scene by scene” basis. I was looking at it as a whole most of the time. Because of the number of things that have to happen in any given scene, its hard to separate “hardests and favorites” because I was thinking about the big picture…It’s like a clock…when the whole thing is set in motion and works, that’s the best part. A clockmaker wouldn’t say that the minute hand was his favorite part of the clock…
If I were pressed, I might say that the basement trap door was the most difficult part to design. It absolutely needed to look like the movie…but there is no trappable space at the DCAC. So, I needed to find a height that was as level with the floor as possible, but still tall enough for an actress to be underneath, while still maintaining room for the SFX equipment, and safe enough for two people to be “pulled in”, and capable of being opened by itself…every one of those conditions needed to harmonize with the others. What we got isn’t perfect, but it is pretty close.
Joel: Tell us about creating the Splash Zone.
Jared: I wanted to remove the seats. I thought that if the DCAC was willing to let us do the show, we could have made the whole thing a lot cleaner and easier to deal with, if we removed the seats and rented plastic folding chairs, which can be hosed off after each show (we might have been able to get a few more tickets out of each show too) But, instead we are going to put down plastic, which is fine, because I think that people, in the end, are rather absorbent, and we won’t have to sacrifice comfort for cleanliness.
The Splash Zone is essential to the show. The original movies were over the top, silly, and in-your-face. Spurting blood on the audience is the live theater way of honoring that. It’s like a GWAR show, that kinda humor…but we are only using blood, not alien semen…
Joel: Where is your favorite seat in the house?
Jared: There isn’t a bad seat at the DCAC (there isn’t any room for one! *rimshot*)
Joel: What do you want audiences to take with them?
Jared: The obvious answer is fake blood… But really, I want them to take away a sense that theater doesn’t need to be limited. That is, part of Landless’ mission statement is to bring theater to the theater challenged. Well, this is the type of show that many will look down their nose at, but really, it’s the best kind of theater because it engages directly and viscerally with its audience. I hope that they take away a broadened sense of what theater can be, and the notion that “hey, there are folks in DC doing really cool stuff, and I was, just now, a part of that…and I have the bloodstains on my clothes to prove it!”
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Jen Tonon (Special Effects Director/Shelly/Beaver/S-mart shopper):
Joel: Tell us a little about yourself.
Jen: I have roughly a decade of experience in theatre; starting in high school. I was always into doing my own scary makeup, and I loved Halloween more than any other holiday as a kid. I come from an artistic family, so it wasn’t a surprise to anyone when I started to poke around making my own short movies and doing simple effects for those. The majority of my theatre training is focused on musicals (either acting/singing or playing in the band), because music is my number one love.
Joel: What is your contribution to the show?
Jen: My main contribution was the overall effects development for the show. Sometimes the effects teetered into the costumes/props/set territories, but if it had blood on it or in it, that was my department. I also did the drum tracks for the recorded musical numbers in between getting FX stuff together.
Joel: What was most challenging for you?
Jen: The blood from the cellar effect took a lot of thought and trial and error to make happen. We essentially needed to have something that was quiet, fairly easy to operate, and would push out a good amount of liquid. Most of the time I’ve tinkered with garden sprayers (which I’m using in several scenes in Evil Dead), but those don’t have enough oomph for a big spray. We tried using a shop-vac in reverse, but quickly found out that it was too noisy, and the suction doesn’t suck up from the vacuum tank. I did some research and found that fountain pumps used in gardens are pretty good for doing the trick. They come in various sizes, and while the bigger ones can really get some fake blood moving, they were a little out of my price range. We teamed a small pump with a big garden sprayer and a cheap water toy I found in a novelty store, and the three of them in succession make for a pretty bloody sequence.
Joel: What scene was the hardest to design, and which was the most fun?
Jen: The previous scene I talked about was undoubtedly the hardest, just based on the amount of stuff that had to happen and how many people it takes to make it happen. I think it’s something like five people back there working all of the necessary items.
I don’t know if there’s a particular scene I liked doing effects for over something else. As a whole I really enjoyed getting my hands dirty, and being covered in fake blood and paint while we (Steve and I) got this stuff together. The lot of it was very time-consuming to produce and test, so I will definitely be glad to have some of my free time back in November.
Joel: Tell us about creating the Splash Zone.
Jen: Fake blood in general is tricky. There are a million and one recipes, and everyone swears by their own. Since this is strictly for the stage, it had to be something that was dark enough to be seen, liquid enough to flow through sprayers and pumps, not stain clothes too badly, and safe enough for the actors to get it in their faces. I did some research on recipes that would fit the majority of the criteria, and observed that quite a few folks stood by using Black Cherry Kool-Aid and water. In order to get it dark enough to be seen on stage, a lot of packs had to be used, but the stuff is cheap.
When we did a preview weekend in Frederick, the theatre was much bigger than the DCAC. The splash zone wasn’t quite as large, because the sprayers could only reach the first five or six rows from behind the kitchen or under the cellar. In DC, however, there won’t be a dry seat in the house.
Joel: Where is your favorite seat in the house?
Jen: Anywhere the blood hits.
Joel: What do you want audiences to take with them?
Jen: Wet clothes, a goofy smile, and hopefully an appreciation of B-movies and practical effects. I’m more excited about the folks that get dragged to this unknowing about anything that’s about to happen. There’s nothing more entertaining to me than to see someone start out completely horrified, and end up laughing their ass off by the end of the show because they let loose and had a good time.
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Elizabeth Reeves (Costumes and Puppets):
Joel: Tell us a little about you.
Elizabeth: I graduated from Loretto Heights College (now Teikyo-Loretto University) with degrees in Theatre. I can act, sing, dance, and design! I put myself through school working in the college costume shop, and there found my calling. I actually started designing at an early age. I made lots of clothes for my Barbies in the 1960s, before Barbie’s legs could bend at the knee. It is amazing what can be done with the top of a girl’s knee high sock!
I designed my first Broadway-bound show, Everleigh Yours (a musical about a “boarding house” in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century), before I finished college. The show bombed during previews, but the costumes were amazing. I’ve been costuming professionally since 1980 – longer than most of the kids in this cast have been alive!
Joel: Tell us about your contribution to the design of the show.
Elizabeth: Mostly I have to make sure that nobody goes on stage naked, unless, of course, that is what the director wants. For this show, I needed to make certain that everyone looks good in red… blood red. I did have a bit of a challenge. The characters in this show are well known to “Deadites” everywhere. There are very few liberties a designer can take when a script is drawn so heavily from a popular move franchise.
Joel: What was most challenging?
Elizabeth: No big challenge with the costumes. The costumes were a breeze compared to designing a large mammal puppet – Moose. I take great pleasure in knowing that Moose has a big smile on his face every time a hand is shoved up his back-side
When I was asked to make Moose, I assumed it was mousse. I make amazing mint-chocolate mousse. I was thrilled to be able to play with my inner Julia Child. Well, we have an entirely different type of mousse in this show
Joel: Where does all the blood go?
Elizabeth: I’m happy that all of that blood goes off the stage instead of onto my costumes. I’m sure the laundress is happy, too.
Joel: Where is your favorite seat in the house?
Elizabeth: Hmmm….Being vertically-challenged, I prefer to sit in the front row. That way I’m guaranteed that “Lars the Giant” won’t sit in front of me.
Joel: What do you want audiences to take with them when they leave the DCAC?
Elizabeth: I want the audience to take all of their belongings with them when they leave DCAC after they watch our show. If they leave anything behind, it goes right into my costume supply – AND I’M RUNNING OUT OF STORAGE ROOM!!!
— Evil Dead The Musical plays thru Nov 1st at The District of Columbia Arts Center (DCAC) -2438 18th Street NW, in Washington, DC, on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 7:30pm. To purchase tickets, click here.
A great way to spend Halloween, hope this show goes BIG places!