Chenoa Henderson, Trent Kubasiak, MJ Kernan, Alexis Willet, and Perin Royalty in “Very Still & Hard to See" at Scott Community College -- April 23 through 26.
Thursday, April 23, through Sunday, April 26
Scott Community College's Black Box Theatre, 500 Belmont Road, Bettendorf IA
With author Steve Yockey's work hailed by LA Weekly as a "series of haunted tales ... strung together with expert eeriness," the creepy vignettes of Very Still & Hard to See enjoy an April 23 through 26 staging at Bettendorf's Scott Community College, Stage Scene LA adding that Yockey's presentation is "the theatrical equivalent of Disneyland’s Space Mountain: i.e. equal parts excitement, terror, and glee."
Seven of the stage pieces in Yockey's Very Still & Hard to See anthology were previously presented at SCC in the spring of 2023, and now, an altogether different set will be performed, this short play cycle recounting the history of a cursed hotel and the unfortunate guests who stay there. From riding in an erratic elevator and dealing with possessive ghosts to managing an ever-expanding hole in the floor armed only with gleaning supplies, these encounters with the unknown chillingly collapse the distance between the real and the surreal, and remind us that, sometimes, bad things do happen for a reason. As Backstage magazine stated, "Yockey's new play is an eerie excursion into the surreal and supernatural," while Stage Scene LA raved that the author's theatrical work "provides thrills galore."
Directing Very Still & Hard to See is Scott Community College theatre instructor Kevin Babbitt, whose previous works for his department have included Proceed to Checkout, Never the Sinner, The Real Inspector Hound, and The Laramie Project. Babbitt's on-stage area-theatre appearances, meanwhile, include roles in the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's Marjorie Prime, Over the River & Through the Woods, and The 39 Steps, as well as the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's On Golden Pond and Tuesdays with Morrie. And nine gifted student actors compose Babbitt's cast: Eli DeZarn, Maesi Geigle, Chenoa Henderson, Olivia Hoft, MJ Kernan, Trent Kubasiak, Perin Royalty, Alexander Shoemaker, and Alexis Willet.
Very Still & Hard to See will be staged in Scott Community College's Black Box Theatre (in downstairs Room #1021 through Door 3) from April 23 through 26, with performances on Thursday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Friday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Admission is $10 at the door or in advance, and more information and tickets are available by visiting Cur8.com/18594/project/138050.
