Enjoy this exclusive interview between Playhouse artistic director Mark Shanahan and John Rapson. Rapson is an actor and the author/performer of “Ghost Stories and Legends,” coming to the Playhouse as a Barnstormer event this October.
MARK: What can our audience expect from a night of Ghost Stories and Legends at our Barnstormer event?
JOHN: Thrills, chills and tons of fun! We’re combining a couple incredible tales from the great ghost writers of all time: Washington Irving and M.R. James. First we’ll do a reading of a short play, Whistle. This is by you, your own brilliant adaptation of James’ “Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad”. Then, I’ll perform my own adaptation of Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, the original American ghost story and perhaps the most iconic Halloween tale of all time.
Who knows? More tricks and treats may be in store as well!
MARK: What is it about the work of Washington Irving that first drew you to him?
JOHN: As a tiny, Halloween-obsessed kid I knew who the Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane were long before I picked up a copy of the short story they come from. I first read it at way too young of an age (7 or 8) to actually understand all of it…and yet the story still completely cast a spell over me. Irving’s language and iconography are so vibrant that they are utterly undeniable. He writes from this incredibly jocular and almost grandfatherly place, seemingly saying, “you’ll never believe it…but this is what happened.” It’s the literary equivalent of sitting in front of a crackling hearth with a mug of warm apple cider. It still is every time I revisit it.
MARK: In committing the work to memory, was there anything surprising you found about the words of Irving when spoken and acted rather than simply read?
JOHN: Most definitely! The text flows so excitingly and easily when performed that it must be imagined that it was designed as such. Charles Dickens (who was friends with and greatly inspired by Irving…thinking of him almost as a mentor), would later popularize massive public readings of his own novels that were the theatrical events of the period. It all goes to show that literature in this time was meant to be enjoyed socially. The act and art of reading aloud and aural storytelling is something that we’ve really lost. I’m always pleasantly surprised at how thrilling just hearing these glorious (and spooky!) words can be!
MARK: Why do you think we enjoy indulging in stories that may scare us?
JOHN: It’s a great question and one I think about a lot. I can only speak for myself but my craving for things that go bump in the night comes from my need to understand my own relationship to fear. I think the world is pretty scary right now. Our political landscape, war, health and climate crises etc. you don’t have to turn far to find something that will give you nightmares. I think of the horror genre as a gentler kind of fear. I know that may sound silly given the extremes to which it can go but even these pale in comparison to terrors of the real world. Horror can be a useful teacher and companion, helping us find strength in the perils of the everyday. I find comfort and even coziness in it and its guardrails. Our daily lives are scary enough…I think it’s easier, and a heck of a lot more fun, to be scared of a ghost story.
MARK: Do you believe in ghosts? Ever seen one?
JOHN: I do! I don’t know that I necessarily think ghosts are people who’ve returned from the dead to haunt the living but I do think that people, places and objects have long memories and we may imprint upon spaces and each other! I saw a thing or two at the Lunt Fontanne theatre while I was performing Sweeney Todd there. There was a figure backstage who would seemingly watch the show every once in a while. I encountered them waiting to make an entrance on a balcony one night. Thinking I was seeing one of our stage managers I quietly waited for my entrance and then heard a voice I recognized to my left. The same stage manager I was sure was currently standing to my right was far off to my left talking to another cast member. I turned and the figure was gone. Their presence was still very much there though. It’s hard to describe…but it’s not something I’ll soon forget.
CLICK HERE or on the the graphics above to read John’s full bio.
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