The House in Hydesville

Full-length drama / 5w, 2m

In the winter of 1848 the Fox family moves to a bleak cottage in the isolated hamlet of Hydesville, New York. Soon the youngest Fox girls begin to hear strange noises—knocking or “rapping” in the walls—amid rumors of a body buried in the cellar. At once an exploration of familial abuse and the need for spiritual transcendence, The House in Hydesville is a compelling “true ghost story,” as the Fox Sisters went on to found the Modern Spiritualist movement at a time of great religious, social, and sexual upheaval in America. Were these haunted young women the products of their time, or the prophets of it?

The House in Hydesville was commissioned by Geva Theatre Center, and supported in part by the Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University, the Djerassi Fellowship at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a residency at the New Harmony Project. The play received subsequent development at Geva Theatre Center, the Lark Play Development Center, and PlayLabs at the Playwrights’ Center. The House in Hydesville received a world premiere at Geva Theatre Center, directed by Skip Greer. Optioned for film by SpectreVision and Mar Vista Entertainment.