Flint Youth Theatre gets in spirit of Halloween season with "Creepers"

This review appeared in The Flint Journal on Sunday, October 12, 2008

Flint Youth Theatre celebrated the season Friday with the opening night of a delightful compendium of urban legends gathered under the title "Creepers."

Subtitled "Tales of Shadows, Shivers and Shrieks," this is both nostalgic and scary fun for young and old.

Upon entering the Elgood Theatre, the mood is immediately set as fog swirls around an autumn forest clearing. Dim lanterns hang from the skeletal trees and the scrubby shrubbery nonetheless twinkles eerily.

Suddenly the music starts and a troupe of 13 players scurry onstage dressed identically in 19th century breeches, vests and billowy-sleeved shirts. Their autumn colored garb causes them to blend into the surroundings as they begin the story of Tom Patterson and how he lost his hand in the spooky woods.

Each legend is announced as it begins, and each ends with a frozen tableau to mark the beginning and end of the tales. We counted at least 17 separate tales. Some were longer than others and some were simply frightful songs such as "Old Woman All Skin and Bones" and "The Hearse Song" which many adults will clearly remember.

Anyone who's ever told scary stories will surely recognize "The Hook" and "The Vanishing Hitchhiker" along with some of the ironic tales such as "Girl Who Stood on a Grave" and "Room for One More".

The players share the spotlight equally with everyone having their moment as lead character in a tale. That there are an "unlucky" 13 of them adds to the phobia-rich nature of the repertoire. Almost evenly split between genders, the girls are especially adept at the required screaming that accompanies several of the stories.

Each anecdote finds the troupe marching around the playing space to set up yet another configuration and thus bring scenic definition to the tale. Not many props are used aside from constantly rearranged boards and stools, but the stories often begin with the teller's face illuminated from the chin up with a hand-held blue light.

"Creepers" was assembled and scripted by FYT's Walter Hill who remembers being thrilled by such legends as a kid. His script acknowledges the youthful craving for "the pleasure of fear and the excitement of danger" but delivers it in a safe place.

Director William P. Ward's production design is augmented in no small part by Margaret A. Mead-Finizio's choreography. Thirteen people move around the compact Elgood stage with easy fluidity conveying the stories with studied grace and perfect tempo.

"Creepers" continues at Flint Youth Theatre through Oct. 31. For information and tickets contact the box office at (810) 237-1530.

***
By Kathleen Kirby
Contributing Writer, The Flint Journal