Summer may be over, but the suspense is heating up this weekend with the return of ‘The Manor.’
Written by Katherine Bates, this immersive and interactive theater show will call the 115 yr. old Greystone Hall in Chester County home for a few select dates (Sept. 7, 8, 9, 14, 15 and 16) along with 12 actors who will set the stage for this immersive mystery experience.
The two-act play was originally first performed in 2002 at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, a release states. Greystone Hall’s Managing Partner and Greystone resident Velda Moog then traveled to Los Angeles to see the show and meet with the playwright, and the playwright later adapted the script for its East Coast Debut at Greystone Hall in 2017.
“I met with Kathrine Bates and we sat in a coffee shop for hours one afternoon laying out the flow of the plot onto our Greystone Hall’s floor plan. It took me about a year to find a community theater group ready to take on the special logistics of a play where cast and audience move in and out of rooms in a mansion,” explains Moog.
Greystone Hall’s managing partner also mentioned that Katherine Bates planned a trip east to visit Greystone to inaugurate her play.
“My niece Amy Jerrehian knew someone who was involved with the Community Playhouse and we invited their director to meet us and the playwright. Everything came together all at once that day and within a few weeks there were auditions and then rehearsals for the East Coast premiere in November 2017.”
2023 marks the first year that the experience is fully back after the effects of COVID-19, and it’s inspired by the same true events of an early 20th-century oil magnate, Edward Doheny and a mansion that he had built for his son. To lend authenticity to the tale, the show will be presented in Greystone Hall while audience members are led from room to room in the large estate as different scenes of the narrative are portrayed, leading up to a grand finale conclusion.
“We are thrilled to have an ongoing and special connection to Kathrine, now seven years late, after first meeting her and first seeing ‘The Manor’ in Beverly Hills,” concluded Moog in a statement.
And as a release notes, Sam Barrett, President of Colonial Playhouse, has immersed herself once again in directing this encore production of ‘The Manor’. Barrett currently serves as President of the Board of Directors of the Colonial Playhouse. She has directed plays at Colonial and other area theaters for several years, with some notable productions in her past including ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, ‘Lombardi’, and ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.’
Barrett has also had a hand in working on “special productions” at Colonial such as the BYOT (Bring Your Own Talent Night) and 24-Hour Theatre. For her cast for this particular experience, Barrett has selected many notable names from past productions, mixed in with some new talent for the sixth season of ‘The Manor’, the release concludes.
Opening night for ‘The Manor’ will take place Sept. 7, at 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale now for $70 each, which includes the show and experience, plus complimentary refreshments at intermission. Tickets are available at greystonehall.com and all performances will be held at Greystone Hall, at 2450 Aram Avenue in West Chester.
