This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Jeff Malone: Welcome to Half Hour with Jeff and Richie, the podcast where we explore the latest shows we see, sharing our insights and opinions on the performances, storylines, and everything in between. In today's episode, we're discussing the Broadway production of Paranormal Activity. Whether you cannot catch the show in person or want to expand your thoughts after seeing it, this episode is for you. And as always, we want to inform you that this episode will contain spoilers, so if you're ready to dive into this production, stick around with us. I'm Jeff.

[0:24] Richie Grasso: And I'm Richie, and we're thrilled to be your hosts for the episode today. But before we start the conversation about Paranormal Activity, here are a few words from our advertisers.

[0:33] Jeff Malone: Welcome, everyone, to a new episode of Half Hour with Jeff and Richie. Today, we're discussing Paranormal Activity. Paranormal Activity, a new story live on Broadway, brings Oren Peli's iconic horror franchise to the stage in an entirely original story from playwright Levi Holloway. James and Lou move from Chicago to London for a fresh start, but as they settle into their new home, Lou becomes certain that something isn't right, and the couple must eventually face the same truth. Places aren't haunted, people are. Directed by Felix Barrett of Sleep No More and Punch Drunk, the production uses immersive staging, illusion, and sound design to bring the franchise's dread to life live. It premiered at Leeds Playhouse in 2024, ran in the West End of the Ambassador's Theatre, and opened on Broadway at the August Wilson Theatre in August 2026 for a strictly limited 20-week run.

[1:21] Richie Grasso: Okay, so let's kick things off with how we always do on our episodes with our bold statements. So, bold statements for Paranormal Activity. My bold statement here is that I think that this truly shows how much horror belongs on the Broadway stage, and that we will be definitely seeing a lot more of it.

[1:41] Jeff Malone: My bold statement about Paranormal Activity is that this show certainly raises the bar and gives us a new sense of theatre storytelling and immersion in really cool illusions and ways, and I think this is going to be the start of some new ways we tell stories on Broadway, especially in the horror world.

[2:02] Richie Grasso: Okay, well, let's dive into it. Well, let's kick things off with the plot and concepts here around Paranormal Activity, because we have the Paranormal Activity franchise here now on Broadway, which is really cool and unique, I think, because when I felt like this was first announced, I thought this was like, oh, they're just going to take the first film and they're going to put this on stage. And then when I found out that Levi Holloway was working on this and writing an own original story to the Paranormal Activity franchise, I was like, oh, wait, that's actually pretty cool. We're taking some interesting IP that people already know and are fans of, and now we're writing a new story to it. And I'm like, oh, that's clever. I think it works in a big way here.

[2:43] Jeff Malone: I think it's a smart idea as well. We've had Levi Holloway here on the podcast when he wrote Greyhouse. So if you want to go back and listen to some of the episodes we've had about Greyhouse and about Levi Holloway, I think that you're on the right track with this. You take something that is really well known and popular amongst people, like a buzzy title, but then you bring in a Broadway playwright to create an original story underneath that title. Now, of course, they've done that with plenty of movies before where they've taken something like Stranger Things as an example, not to constantly compare Paranormal Activity to Stranger Things, but when you have Stranger Things, which is this very popular title, but then we have an original story-ish.

I mean, it's still based on the characters of the TV show, but it's set in the prequel way. I think that was smart for this, is not to just take one of the Paranormal Activity movies and just replicate it, but to give an original sort of plot and concept here, but keeping it under the general concept of horror in a house, things going wrong, catching it on camera, or for this sake, live audience, and kind of going with it.

[3:46] Richie Grasso: Oh, totally. And now when we kind of get into the plot here, there's many different themes that he brings into this piece, and I'm not very well versed in the Paranormal Activity world. I think that it's scary, and it's not my thing that I really love being part of because I do think the supernatural could be real. And so when I see something like this, I was like, oh, I have to go and see it because we see everything for the Broadway show, but this one's going to be tough because I'm going to be scared, and there's going to be a lot of people around in this theater, and I'm just omitting it, you know? So when we look at the actual plot here, we're talking about, are places haunted or are people haunted?

And I think that is where I was most intrigued in this, and I was really not expecting to have a really great script in this Paranormal Activity stage production because in the films, it's a little bit more just like creepy and eerie. There's really not a lot of plot actually happening, and I don't know beyond the first film, which is the only one that I saw, how much plot actually is part of those films. So when I look at this, I'm like, oh, we actually have an interesting story concept going here because we have Lou and James, and they are a husband and wife, and they just moved to London from Chicago, and they had to move here because they were trying to get away from a whole haunted life that they were living in Chicago, and that this was going to be their reset.

And now when they move to London, spoiler alert, what happens? They're still haunted here, and we're talking about now, is the home haunted or are they haunted, and what are they haunted from? So I found that to be very clever in the writing here because you're now watching this kind of suspenseful thriller happening on the stage, and you're saying to yourself, oh wait, but if they're moving to a new home, why would this be the problem? Because a lot of times people talk about how the home is haunted, right? It kind of also goes along with the sense of the struggles of the demons that they carry with them, and it's not necessarily about the literal location but about what they are carrying with them through life.

And there's these themes of reconciliation of the past, religious aspects of themes here too, but also just what has happened in their youth that they either told people or didn't tell people, and they carry through, which at the end you realize they kind of confess to each other something that has happened with them, and then what happens, they both have the ending of this play is so like wild in that way. So I think, yeah, there's definitely this carrying from place to place, whereas a lot of horror also kind of, you know, when you look at so many different types of horror, so many types of horror go back to like, oh this house is haunted, or this land is haunted, or this specific place, but this is kind of the opposite.

I think that was an interesting approach to take, that it was like they're going to carry this with them, and it's going to haunt them, and they can't escape it unless they like kind of deal with it, or like address it, you know what I mean?

[6:39] Jeff Malone: And then from a writing standpoint, do you feel that Levi really brought us in quick enough to these characters and teaching us like, hmm, okay, or just like sprinkle a little bit in on saying, oh, I'm not going to give it away to everyone that, you know, these two both have a past, and they have these like, for lack of a better saying, skeletons in their closet that we're going to kind of learn about throughout this play. Do you think he really kind of accomplished that?

[7:02] Richie Grasso: Yes, I do, and I think what Levi does really well is he paces the plot enough so that, you know, I think the first 30 minutes of this play, we didn't really have any jump scares, it's just a lot of dialogue, and that kind of has to set the scene. A lot of movies will do that too. Especially in the horror space.

[7:17] Jeff Malone: Right, we have to kind of set the relationships, set the location, set, and so I think Levi does a nice job with that. Brings some scare tactics in throughout, and then at the end has this like, especially act two in general, has a lot more like, oh my gosh, what's happening? We're kind of moving, we're driving, we're building, we're building. So his pacing of the way he tells the story I think is really well written, yeah. And I think when you kind of study it a little bit more too, like when you're going back on these like, oh they have a past, Lou and James have this past of like, one did one thing and one did the other, but you're led on to believe that, oh, it's only one of them that's haunted.

But meanwhile, the whole time, they're both haunted by their own past, and I found like, that is where it's interesting in the writing here, because like, is some of it allusion to us as well? Is it actually happening in the writing? Is it what they're just seeing in the supernatural world, and it doesn't actually exist? Or does it exist? I think that's the question, right?

[8:20] Richie Grasso: Yeah, and then also, you know, their relationship gets muddled because of it. The mother's presence in the relationship gets muddled, and it becomes like, oh, hitting all these societal norms, or trying to grow as a couple that's happy, and you know, there's so many things that are getting, this trauma and this difficulty from their youth that they carry with them is getting in the way of their life moving forward. And I think the demons and the haunted things that happen kind of remind them of that, and it brings them back to that moment where they have to come to the very end of the play and be like, we need to tell each other what something we've been holding on to. It kind of boils down to that.

And I think, before we move on to the next section, I think that's what I want to talk about here, is like these final moments of the ending of this play. So, we're led with their final date, and they're there, and they're both confessing to each other, basically, what they did in their past. Lou's confessing that she basically set her house on fire, and her parents died. And James is confessing that he was driving home drunk, and he ended up killing a little girl, and then driving away, like a hit and run. And I kind of look at that, and I'm like, okay, well, both of those are major issues. And Lou's major thing, too, is that she's not sorry for setting the house on fire because her parents were abusive.

So, I'm like, okay, part of me thinks she's kind of had her whole reconciliation with that past. It seems like those were not the demons that were coming for her, but it seemed like the demon was coming for James the whole time, and that was the big plot twist within this piece. And by the end, what happens to James? He leaves the house and ends up getting hit by a car. And we have all these little moments throughout the piece as well that are hinting at cars, cars, cars, over and over again. And even when the medium comes to the house, they are visited from the little girl. They're not visited from Lou's parents. So, that's where I think the whole plot twist in this is really standing out, because it's like, oh no, James was the one that was haunted the whole time and was coming through a possession to Lou almost.

And they have this whole moment in the play with this bell that they make a pact that the bell will only be rung, and the superstition behind it is it will only be rung after one of them dies, and they'll come back and ring it to show that the supernatural is real. And that's how the play ends.

[10:50] Jeff Malone: Today, we're diving into the new horror play, "Paranormal Activity," directed by Felix Barrett. This original story by Levi Holloway is currently playing at Broadway's August Wilson Theatre.

[11:20] Richie Grasso: That's right, Jeff. It's interesting how this play uses the film franchise as a launchpad rather than a direct retelling.

[11:45] Jeff Malone: Exactly! The production builds its scares through illusion work, sound design, and staging, which is a refreshing approach.

[12:15] Richie Grasso: And let's not forget about the performances. Cher Álvarez and Travis A. Knight star as Lou and James, and they really bring the characters to life.

[12:45] Jeff Malone: Their chemistry on stage is palpable, and it adds a lot to the tension of the story.

[13:05] Richie Grasso: Speaking of tension, the plot has some unexpected twists that keep the audience on the edge of their seats.

[13:35] Jeff Malone: Absolutely! The twist ending is something that I think will spark a lot of discussions among theatergoers.

[13:55] Richie Grasso: For sure. And as we head into Tony season, I'm curious about the show's chances.

[14:15] Jeff Malone: It definitely has potential, especially with its unique take on horror and the strong performances.

[14:35] Richie Grasso: Plus, the technical aspects, like the sound design and staging, are really impressive.

[14:55] Jeff Malone: They create an immersive experience that pulls you into the world of the play.

[15:15] Richie Grasso: And that's something that can really resonate with audiences, especially in a horror context.

[15:35] Jeff Malone: Right! It's not just about jump scares; it's about building an atmosphere that feels genuinely unsettling.

[15:55] Richie Grasso: Exactly. I think that’s what sets "Paranormal Activity" apart from other horror plays.

[16:15] Jeff Malone: And it’s great to see Broadway exploring different genres like horror.

[16:35] Richie Grasso: It opens up new storytelling possibilities and attracts a wider audience.

[16:55] Jeff Malone: Definitely! I think fans of the genre will appreciate this fresh take.

[17:15] Richie Grasso: And for those who might not typically go for horror, it could be an interesting entry point.

[17:35] Jeff Malone: Exactly! It’s all about pushing boundaries and challenging perceptions of what Broadway can be.

[17:55] Richie Grasso: I’m excited to see how audiences respond as the show continues its run.

[18:15] Jeff Malone: Me too! And I think it’s important for productions like this to get the recognition they deserve.

[18:35] Richie Grasso: Absolutely. It’s a testament to the creativity and innovation happening in the theater world right now.

[18:55] Jeff Malone: And with the Tony Awards coming up, it’ll be interesting to see how it fares.

[19:15] Richie Grasso: For sure! I think it has a strong chance, especially with the buzz it’s generating.

[19:35] Jeff Malone: Let’s hope the momentum continues and more people get to experience it.

[19:55] Richie Grasso: Agreed! If you’ve seen "Paranormal Activity," we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

[20:15] Jeff Malone: Yes! Share your opinions and let us know what you think about the play.

[20:35] Richie Grasso: And if you have suggestions for what we should cover next, don’t hesitate to reach out.

[20:55] Jeff Malone: Thanks for joining us today as we explored "Paranormal Activity." We’ll see you next time!

[21:15] Richie Grasso: Bye, everyone!

[21:41] Jeff Malone: Welcome back to Half Hour with Jeff and Richie. Today, we're diving deep into the new horror play, "Paranormal Activity," currently playing at the August Wilson Theatre.

[21:57] Richie Grasso: That's right, Jeff. This original story by Levi Holloway takes the film franchise as a launchpad rather than a direct retelling.

[22:09] Jeff Malone: Exactly! The play builds its scares through illusion work, sound design, and staging, which is quite different from the found footage style of the films.

[22:31] Richie Grasso: And let's talk about the performances. Cher Álvarez and Travis A. Knight, who play Lou and James, really bring a lot to their roles.

[22:51] Jeff Malone: They do! Their chemistry on stage is palpable, and it adds so much to the tension throughout the play.

[23:11] Richie Grasso: The plot itself is intriguing, with twists that keep you guessing until the very end.

[23:27] Jeff Malone: Absolutely! I think the twist ending is one of the highlights of the show. It really leaves the audience with something to think about.

[23:55] Richie Grasso: And speaking of the audience, the reactions during the performance were electric. You could feel the tension in the air.

[24:23] Jeff Malone: Right? It’s a unique experience, especially for those who are fans of the horror genre.

[24:51] Richie Grasso: I also appreciated how the production utilized sound design to enhance the scares.

[25:19] Jeff Malone: Yes! The soundscapes really immerse you in the world of the play, making every creak and whisper feel significant.

[25:47] Richie Grasso: And let's not forget about the staging. The way they use the space in the theatre adds to the overall atmosphere.

[26:15] Jeff Malone: For sure! The set design is cleverly done, creating an eerie environment that complements the story perfectly.

[26:43] Richie Grasso: As we head into Tony season, I'm curious about the show's chances.

[27:11] Jeff Malone: It’s definitely a contender, especially with such strong performances and innovative direction.

[27:31] Richie Grasso: I agree. The combination of horror and theatre is not something we see often on Broadway, which could work in its favor.

[27:59] Jeff Malone: Plus, the unique approach to storytelling could resonate well with both critics and audiences alike.

[28:27] Richie Grasso: Absolutely! I think it’s a refreshing addition to the Broadway lineup.

[28:55] Jeff Malone: So, for our listeners, if you’re a fan of horror or just looking for something different, "Paranormal Activity" is definitely worth checking out.

[29:23] Richie Grasso: And we’d love to hear your thoughts on the production!

[29:51] Jeff Malone: Yes! Share your comments in the Spotify comments section, and let us know what you’d like us to cover next.

[30:19] Richie Grasso: And if you enjoy these post-show discussions, don’t forget to follow Half Hour and leave a rating and review.

[30:47] Jeff Malone: That way, more theatre lovers can find our podcast and join the conversation.

[31:15] Richie Grasso: Thanks for tuning in, everyone! We’ll see you next time for more Broadway discussions.

[31:43] Jeff Malone: Until then, keep the theatre spirit alive!

[32:11] Richie Grasso: Bye for now!

[32:19] Jeff Malone: Bye!

[32:27] Richie Grasso: Take care!