The Viy

The Evil Dead meets Waiting for Godot in this irreverent adaptation of Nikolai Gogol’s 1833 supernatural short story, which was also the source of Mario Bava’s classic Italian Gothic horror film Black Sunday. Borrowing from such disparate influences as Paul Sills’ Story Theatre, the Borscht Belt humor of Mel Brooks and the foreboding shadow play of German Expressionism, The Viy attends the panic of roguish philosopher Khoma Brut, assigned to pray for three nights over the body of a dead girl who rises out of her coffin each midnight to torment him. Enacted by a large ensemble cast of players, this performance is intended as a celebration of storytelling and the art of myth-making.