“The Turn of the Screw,” October 23 through November 8

Friday, October 23, through Sunday, November 8

Riverside Theatre, 119 East College Street, Iowa City IA

With the British Theatre Guide praising the play for delivering “plenty of moments that are funny, frightening, or exciting,” playwright Jeffrey Hatcher's take on Henry James' classic chiller The Turn of the Screw enjoys an October 23 through November 8 run at Iowa City's Riverside Theatre, the Los Angeles Times hailing the work as “an ingenious twist on an old-school ghost story."

Based on James' 1898 horror novella that has led to numerous radio, film, stage, and television adaptations over the years, Hatcher's 1997 The Turn of the Screw gives the famous story a unique twist by being performed by only two actors. Its story finds a young governess journeying to a lonely English manor house to care for two recently orphaned children. She is not, however, their first governess, as the young woman's predecessor Miss Jessel, drowned herself when she became pregnant by the sadistic valet Peter Quint, who was himself found dead – under mysterious circumstances – soon after. Now the new governess has begun to see the specters of Quint and Jessel haunting the children, and she must find a way to stop the fiends before it's too late. But one frightening question tortures The Turn of the Screw's would-be-heroine: Are the ghosts real, or are they the product of her own fevered imagination?

Riverside Theatre's take on The Turn of the Screw is being directed by Gregory Alamanza, with additional members of the show's creative team including: scenic designer Leslie Delavan; costume designer Karlē J. Meyers; lighting designer Haven Haywood; intimacy director Kathleen Johnson; stage manager Kelly Garrett; and assistant stage manager and board operator Sammi Lewis. Portraying the show's unnamed governess protagonist is Jenna Eckhart, with the thriller's other four roles all enacted by Luke McGee.

The Turn of the Screw runs in downtown Iowa City from October 23 through November 8, with performances Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Following the Sunday, October 25 matinee, audiences are invited to stay for Riverside Theatre's Oaknoll Sunday Talkback Series, hosted by Miriam Gilbert and featuring the show's two performers. Admission is $18-43, and more information and tickets are available by calling (319)259-7099 and visiting RiversideTheatre.org.