A chilling melodrama, with gruesome ghosts and mysterious murders, is playing at the Douglaston Community Theatre on 44th Avenue off Douglaston Parkway (Zion Episcopal Church Parish Hall). “The Uninvited” brings a classic horror genre to center stage, complete with special effects and contact with the supernatural.
Director Tom Williams has brought together some of Queens’ most prodigious and talented stage veterans for this eerie tale. Lovely Mary Lynch, as Pamela Fitzgerald, has been seen in dozens of productions; Keith Junas, as her brother Roddy, is making his second appearance for the DCT players. Roddy is smitten with naïve Stella, played by Loraine Navales, who is also relatively new under local spotlights.
A makeshift Ouija board brings the uninvited spirits with terrifying results. Both Richard Weyhausen as Max and Nick DeCesare as Dr. Scott make their roles look effortless. They aren’t. Teresa Zugger as Wendy is always a bright face for the audience, even when channeling some sinister supernatural spirits.
Scene stealers include the feisty housemaid Lizzie (Cathy Cosgrove), who has her own ideas about tempting the occult. Also, the downright deceitful Commander Brook (Don Curran) makes the most of an increasingly foreboding situation. There’s the requisite town gossip, Mrs. Jessup (Sharri Mandel), as well as Miss Holloway (Annette Daiell), who knows the family’s deepest, darkest secrets.
It’s a pleasant evening of mystery and melodrama right in Douglaston. Call 718-482-3332 for tickets.
The spring theater season continues on cue. As always, save me a seat on the aisle.
Photo Courtesy of the DCT Players
Annette Daielli and Loraine Navales rehearse "The Uninvited."
