MORWOOD MANOR to Premiere as Surreal Immersive Theatre in Denver

This October, Denver audiences can step into the surreal world of the Morwood family for a new immersive show that is considerably stranger than the average haunted house.

Morwood Manor: An Immersive Gothic Thriller will have its world premiere October 15 - 18 at Merritt Wellness in Denver, marking the debut of a new theatrical work and the first large-scale directing collaboration between experimental performing artists Soleil Kohl and Hang Nguyen.

Rather than a haunted house built around jump scares, Morwood Manor offers a different kind of Halloween experience: an intimate, surreal theatrical event where audiences physically enter the world of the story.

Guests are welcomed into a converted church space that has been transformed into the Morwood family home, where they are seated around a long dining table, complete with tea and light refreshments. Performers interact with guests throughout the evening, creating an immersive narrative experience that unfolds around them. Participation in conversation with actors is voluntary, allowing audience members to engage at whatever level feels comfortable.

Loosely inspired by Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle, the production draws on gothic fiction, surrealism, and dark comedy to create a world that is unsettling, absurd, and funny in unexpected ways.

'With Morwood Manor, we're interested in bringing the shameful things that are typically hidden behind closed doors out in the open, and seeing what kinds of strangeness unfolds when a family desperately tries to maintain its own version of normal,' says co-director Soleil Kohl. 'It's absurd, it's creepy, and as you look around, you keep realizing details that are more and more deranged,' adds co-director Hang Nguyen.

A DEBUT COLLABORATION

The world premiere marks the first large-scale directing collaboration between Soleil Kohl and Hang Nguyen, after meeting through a theatrical composition intensive at Celebration Barn in Portland, Maine.

Kohl is a Denver- and Los Angeles-based experimental performing artist whose work incorporates absurdist satire, audiovisual collage, clowning, and immersive theatre. Their work has been presented across the US and internationally, and featured by BBC Scotland, No Proscenium, and Denverse.

Nguyen is a clown performance artist based in Providence, Rhode Island, whose work explores the absurd and subversive through live performance, puppetry, filmmaking, and DIY theatrical design. Her films have screened at more than 20 festivals across the country.

Together, the artists, co-created and performed alongside the ensemble cast, have created an original immersive production that brings their shared interest in surrealism, theatrical experimentation, and suburban ritual to the spooky Halloween season.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF HALLOWEEN

For audiences looking to make their Halloween season a little more unusual, Morwood Manor offers a chance to trade the familiar haunted house and corn maze for something more theatrical, atmospheric, intimate, and surreal.

'Rather than a murder mystery show where things stay a little silly, or in a level of campiness, expect this to get weird. And then get even weirder.' says Kohl.

The production is co-created and performed by Jade Diamond, Mitchell Ackerman, Nicole Caron, Hang Nguyen, Soleil Kohl, and Prith Khalsa.

Morwood Manor: An Immersive Gothic Thriller

October 15 - 18, 2026

Merritt Wellness
2246 Irving St., Denver, CO 80211

Performances:

• Thursday, October 15: 7 PM
• Friday, October 16: 7 PM
• Saturday, October 17: 5 PM & 7 PM
• Sunday, October 18: 5 PM

Runtime: Approximately 90 minutes

Tickets: $30 Early Bird / $35 Standard / $40 Late Bird, plus fees. Pay-what-you-can tickets are available.

Dress: Gothic and dreary attire encouraged.