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Paranormal Activity: A New Story Live on Broadway is playing at the August Wilson Theatre. Written by Levi Holloway and directed by Felix Barrett, the production follows a couple haunted after moving from Chicago to London, using live performance and illusions to build its scares.
Paranormal Activity: A New Story Live on Broadway is playing at the August Wilson Theatre, bringing the horror franchise to the stage through a new story about a couple haunted after moving from Chicago to London. Written by Levi Holloway and directed by Felix Barrett, the production uses live actors and illusions to create scares in the same room as the audience.
The play follows James and Lou, played by Travis A. Knight and Cher Álvarez, as they leave Chicago for London hoping to get away from their past. The supernatural presence troubling them, the story says, crosses borders with them. The production is a new stage story rather than a straightforward retelling of the film’s events.
Felix Barrett, founder of immersive theater company Punchdrunk and co-director of Sleep No More, directs. Illusions designer Chris Fisher is also associated with the production. Simon Friend and Hanna Osmolska lead the producing team through Melting Pot, with Jason Blum and Blumhouse among the production partners, according to Dread Central’s report.
The report describes the show as aiming for immersion while keeping the audience seated. Fisher said the creative team wanted spectators to feel involved in the action even though the performance does not take place among them. The article also notes that horror relies on the audience’s collective response: screams and nervous laughter become part of the event when performers and spectators experience the same moment together.
How Live Effects Change Stage Horror
The production points to one way horror can work differently in a theater than on screen: the audience shares physical space with the performers and the unfolding threat. A film can control what viewers see through editing and camera movement; a live production has to make its effects convincing in real time, while the audience watches from the room.
That places a particular demand on illusion and effects designers. The source report argues that live theater can renew the audience’s sense of wonder at how a supernatural effect is achieved, especially when practical effects and digital imagery are familiar. That is the reporter’s interpretation, not a measured industry finding. Still, the production’s mix of horror storytelling and live illusion offers audiences a distinct format for experiencing a familiar franchise.
The shared response is also part of the appeal described by producer Simon Friend. In his account, the crowd’s screams and nervous laughter help shape the experience. For theaters and producers, that makes stage horror more than a screen story recreated with actors: audience reaction is immediate and audible, and can influence how a tense moment lands.
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From Screen Franchise to Live Stage
The Broadway production arrives amid a broader run of horror and supernatural stories moving onto theater stages. Dread Central points to Beetlejuice, which has had three Broadway engagements and continues on London’s West End, as well as Death Becomes Her and the musical adaptation of The Lost Boys. It also cites Stranger Things: The First Shadow, whose effects and creature work have drawn attention to the possibilities of live spectacle.
Stage horror itself is not new. Sweeney Todd, The Phantom of the Opera and Little Shop of Horrors have long combined theatrical performance with macabre material. What the report sees as a recent development is the variety of approaches, including elaborate illusions designed to make supernatural events seem to happen before the audience.
Fisher’s work connects several of these productions. He received a Special Tony Award for his work on Stranger Things: The First Shadow, serves as an international illusions and magic associate for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and is the illusions designer for Paranormal Activity, according to the source report.
““Even though the play isn’t in and amongst the audience, we wanted the audience to feel immersed in it.””
— Chris Fisher, illusions designer
What the Report Leaves Unspecified
The source report does not provide the production’s opening date, performance schedule, ticket information or run length. It also does not give technical details about particular illusions, so the precise methods used to create the show’s supernatural effects are not confirmed here.
The article offers an interview-based account and a critic’s response to the production, rather than audience data or independent measures of the show’s commercial performance. Its broader suggestion that live theater is becoming a major home for horror effects is an interpretation; the report does not provide industry figures to quantify that trend.
The Production’s Broadway Run
Paranormal Activity is currently playing at the August Wilson Theatre, according to the source report. Readers seeking show dates, ticket availability or any later announcements will need to check the theater or production’s current listings; the article does not state how long the engagement is scheduled to run.
The show’s reception and subsequent production updates will help clarify how this particular mix of franchise storytelling, live illusion and audience reaction performs on Broadway. The report does not announce a tour, extension or other future staging.
Key Questions
What is Paranormal Activity: A New Story Live on Broadway?
It is a stage production now playing at the August Wilson Theatre. The new story follows a couple who move from Chicago to London while trying to escape a haunting.
Who wrote and directed the Broadway production?
Levi Holloway, whose credits include Grey House, wrote the play. Felix Barrett, founder of Punchdrunk and co-director of Sleep No More, directed it.
Who plays the couple at the center of the story?
Travis A. Knight plays James and Cher Álvarez plays Lou, according to the source report.
Does the production use live illusions?
Chris Fisher is credited as the production’s illusions designer. The report discusses the show’s effort to make audiences feel immersed, but does not detail specific effects or how they are performed.
How long will the Broadway production run?
The source report does not give a run length or closing date. It says the production is playing at the August Wilson Theatre; current listings are needed for schedule and ticket details.
Source: dreadcentral.com
