Halloween 2023: Theatrical tricks and treats haunt Bay Area stages
Halloween is always a popular theme for theater performers and fans in the Bay Area -- productions from run campy to blood-curdling.
Halloween is traditionally a big deal in San Francisco, even if the Castro’s famously mammoth street parties are sadly a thing of the past.
For local theatergoers there’s usually no dearth of spine-tingling shows to brave throughout the month of October, from elaborate haunted-house experiences to classic thrillers and cult-classic camp.
Here’s a tantalizing taste of what’s in the theatrical trick-or-treat bag this year.
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show”: Ever since its 1975 release, this musical comedy horror movie has kept running as a midnight-movie cult classic, with live “shadow casts” mimicking the onscreen action and a practiced accompanying ritual of shouted audience responses. Mountain View’s Pear Theatre and Harmony Werks is presenting screenings of the movie, complete with shadow cast and the works (or werks). Details: Oct. 20-21; Pear Theatre, Mountain View; $25; www.thepear.org
“Lizard Women”: Now holed up in SF’s Phoenix Theatre after the demise of the PianoFight venue, Awesome Theatre returns with Eteya Trinidad’s new horror comedy about the complicated love lives of two bloodthirsty were-lizards and their unsuspecting new roommate. Details: Through Oct. 14; Phoenix Theatre, San Francisco; $25-$30; www.awesometheatre.org
“The Turn of the Screw”: In playwright Jeffrey Hatcher’s chilling adaptation, two actors embody Henry James’ Gothic horror novella thriller about a new governess convinced that ghosts are bedeviling the young orphans she’s been hired to take care of in an isolated country estate. Details: Through Oct. 21; Town Hall Theatre, Lafayette; $20-$45; www.townhalltheatre.com
“Unhinged: Housewarming”: The Winchester Mystery House’s immersive Halloween walk-through experience “Unhinged” offers a new chapter of its horror show each year. This time around we go way back to the Roaring ’20s with “Housewarming,” in which a prominent Hollywood couple moves into the notoriously bizarre mansion after Sarah Winchester’s death, throwing a housewarming party that soon takes a macabre turn. Details: Through Oct. 31; Winchester Mystery House, San Jose; $65-$100; www.winchesterunhinged.com.
“The Initiation”: Into the Dark is back with a whole new immersive haunted-house experience at the San Francisco Mint. This one invites visitors to an initiation ceremony for a cult dedicated to awakening members’ consciousness to the horrors lurking all around us. Attendees must be 18 and up. There’s also a ‘80s New Wave vampire bar in the vault open to patrons and the public alike. Details: Through Oct. 31; San Francisco Mint, San Francisco; $55-$85; www.terrorvault.com
“The Rocky Horror Show”: Ray of Light’s productions of the original stage musical that spawned the cult classic movie have become a San Francisco tradition in their own right, especially now that the company has joined forces with drag cabaret nightclub Oasis for a fully immersive production happening all over the club. Drag diva D’Arcy Drollinger stars once again as Dr. Frank N. Furter. Details: Through Nov. 4; Oasis, San Francisco; $45-$100; www.rayoflighttheatre.com
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”: Washington Irving’s spooky tale of hapless Ichabod Crane’s encounter with the Headless Horsemen thunders to life in Santa Rosa in a stage adaptation by John Minigan, with one performer possessed by all 20 characters. Details: Oct. 13-Nov. 5; 6th Street Playhouse, Santa Rosa; $34-$45; www.6thstreetplayhouse.com
“Tales from Behind the Basement Door”: Berkeley’s Theatre Lunatico is also performing an adaptation of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” adapted and directed by Gendell Hing-Hernández. This one’s part of a double bill with “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner’s short story about an eccentric recluse’s disturbing behavior after her father’s death, in a stage adaptation by Joseph Robinette. Details: Oct. 21-Nov. 5; La Val’s Subterranean Theater, Berkeley; pay what you will (suggested $15-$50); www.theatrelunatico.org
“Bloody Jack”: San Leandro Players summons the terror of Jack the Ripper in playwright Tim Kelly’s dramatic whodunnit that invites you to guess which of the play’s characters is secretly the mysterious Whitechapel murderer. Details: Oct. 21-Nov. 19; San Leandro Museum Auditorium, San Leandro; $15-$20; www.slplayers.org
“All Hallows’ Eve at the Palace”: Join characters from the long-running immersive Prohibition theatrical experience “The Speakeasy” in a Roaring ’20s-themed Halloween party with ghost stories, vaudeville acts, live jazz, seances, tarot readings, cocktails and casino tables. Details: Oct. 26-28; Palace Theatre, San Francisco; $85-$155 (subject to change); www.thespeakeasysf.com.