Previews: SCREAMERS & SPEAK OF THE DEVIL at Shadowbox Live!

As soon as the fireworks and flags from the Fourth of July are put away, skulls, jack-o-lanterns and Spirit Halloween stores begin to take over.

Shadowbox Live! is no exception. Beginning in late August, the theatre troupe will offer two “spooky” shows, SCREAMERS and SPEAK OF THE DEVIL, a tribute show to the music and magic of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath.

“Both shows make for two great options for the season,” Shadowbox Live’s producing director Julie Klein said. “We just thought if we were going to proceed with a Black Sabbath/Ozzy tribute show then fall/Halloween season was the perfect time to do it.”

Nicholas Wilson, the director of operations and education as well as metaperformer at Shadowbox Live!, couldn’t be more excited. He will be a featured dancer/performer in both shows.

“The Halloween season is always a fun time,” Wilson said. “I definitely remember trying to be a superhero every year. One year, it was Superman, the next, it was Spider-Man. One year I tried to be the Hulk.

“(At Shadowbox), we have a lot of comedy, but it’s fun to go a little darker in the Halloween season.”

Both shows have a haunted-house feel to them and share many of the same performers, but Klein said there will be very little crossover between the two.

SCREAMERS, which opens 7 p.m. Aug. 20 at its 503 S. Front St. headquarters, is described as “nightmare-fueled sketch comedy” with a nine-song soundtrack that features tunes by The Doors, 30 Seconds to Mars, Jonathan Coulton, Badflower, Livingston, and Sweet. During the first two weekends, SCREAMERS will be performed at 7 p.m. Aug. 20-22 and Aug. 27-29. After that, the production moves to 7 p.m. Saturdays through Nov. 14.

“With the show opening in late August, we’re getting an early start on the celebration of the ever-popular Fall and Halloween season,” Klein said. “SCREAMERS will deliver the perfect mix of high-energy rock and laugh-out-loud comedy befitting the season. At its heart, our shows are about bringing people together through a shared experience that’s funny, surprising, and unforgettable.”

Wilson said his favorite sketch is “Haunted Roadshow,” a play on the PBS show “Antiques Roadshow.” Characters with strange backstories come in to learn about the history and the value of artifacts they found.

“A challenge of this show was working on Halloween in the middle of summer,” Wilson said. “We had to get ourselves ready for (Halloween) early. But it's been a very fun show to put together so far. We have a lot of fun music and dance concepts for this show and the comedy is hysterical.”

SBX then opens SPEAK OF THE DEVIL: Shadows and Sounds of Ozzy and Black Sabbath 7 p.m. Sept. 20 at its Front Street location. Osbourne is the only heavy metal performer to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as both a member of a band (2006) and as a solo artist (2024). He died of a heart attack on July 22, 2025.

The multimedia performance features hits “Crazy Train,” “Paranoid,” “No More Tears,” and “Iron Man” as well as some of the deeper cuts from Osbourne and Black Sabbath. SPEAK OF THE DEVIL will be performed at 7 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays and at 2 p.m. on Sundays through Nov. 15.

“Our intent for Speak of the Devil is to make it more of an experience instead of an outright tribute show,” Klein said. “We are creating sound beds and visuals that will lead us from song to song making for a great Halloween season experience.”

House band drummer Brandon Smith, a Black Sabbath fan, suggested the idea for the show. A classic rock fan herself, Klein said celebrating Osbourne and Black Sabbath has been “an honor and a responsibility” as well as an educational experience.

“As we selected the songs for the show, I was very surprised to discover the variety involved in their music,” Klein said. “Many only think of them as hard rock but they have beautiful ballads, songs that sound more pop, and songs that have a jazzy edge.”

Wilson admits he came into the show with a cursory knowledge of “The Prince of Darkness.”

“Honestly, I knew of Osbourne when I was growing up as this dark, gothic singer who bit heads off of bats,” Wilson said with a laugh. “The first time I saw (what he looked like) was in the movie LITTLE NICKY.

“As we started working on this show, I recognized more songs than I thought. The music has given us such freedom in dance/movement concepts.”

It seems fitting that Wilson finds himself involved in a pair of Halloween-themed shows at Shadowbox. One of the last performances he did before leaving the company in 2024 was SLEEPY HOLLOW, when he played Ichabod Crane.

Wilson has collected quite a resume. At 14, he had his first paid gig as an actor in Weathervane’s production of HAIRSPRAY in 2010.

“After that, I just wanted to do more,” Wilson said. “When I was in high school, I wanted to take every opportunity possible to keep going with the art. I wanted to make sure I could put as many things on my resume as possible before going off to college.”

Eastmoor Academy High School’s choir director Betty Hill and theatre director Seth Harms suggested Wilson look into an internship program at Shadowbox. When SBX opened up roles to four interns in their production BACK TO THE GARDEN, Wilson jumped at the chance.

“I began seeing (theatre) as a career people had been doing there for years,” he said. “I learned you could make money doing theatre without having to have a side job. This is a thing you can do without just making it a hobby.”

After studying theatre for two years at Kent State University, Wilson came back to Columbus and did a host of other jobs – choreography, set design, costume design, as well as acting and dancing for a number of the area’s theatres.

“It gives me an appreciation for every piece of the puzzle. Theatre itself is a multifaceted industry,” he said. “When you have skills in different areas, you get a better appreciation for the reasons why things have to be done a certain way. As a choreographer and as a Costume Designer, I can tell you why this whole character makes sense, or why they are fleshed out the way they are.

“Our mission is to share art, not only with our (theatre) community, but also with everyone. Art is accessible to everyone. One of my favorite things as a dancer is we tell how we feel by how we move.”

Reaching young people is not just a job for Wilson; it’s a calling. When he was 12, his father Nicholas “Jerry” Wilson was killed in a truck accident. Acting became a way for the younger Wilson to channel his grief.

“Theatre saved my life,” Wilson said. “I constantly think about how it changed the trajectory of how I want to work and live. (Through theatre) I was able to put out certain emotions I had never been able to tap into before.

“I learned at a very young age that life can be short. You need to take every opportunity to share your art and your love with other people.”

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