Cast Updated For PARANORMAL ACTIVITY at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Shakespeare Theatre Company has announced a casting update for Paranormal Activity, an original story based Paramount Pictures' terrifying film franchise—now live on stage. Travis A. Knight has been added to the cast, making his STC debut as James. Prior to stepping into the role of James, Knight served as the Assistant Director on the production.

Patrick Heusinger, who originated the role of James in both the Leeds Playhouse production and the first two runs of the U.S. regional premiere, has joined the cast of Paranormal Activity's West End production, which opened December 5 and runs for 12 weeks in London. Knight will play James both at STC and at the fourth and final run of the U.S. co-production, A.C.T. in San Francisco. 

This North American premiere from celebrated playwright Levi Holloway (Broadway's Grey House) and Punchdrunk's Felix Barrett (Sleep No More) features illusions by Tony Award-winner Chris Fisher (Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child). The production will play a limited engagement in STC's Harman Hall, January 28 through February 7.

James and Lou move from Chicago to London to escape the past…but they soon discover that places aren't haunted, people are. Featuring performances by Cher Álvarez, Travis A. Knight, Shannon Cochran, and Kate Fry, the North American premiere production has already received rave reviews at Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, and after STC, it will complete its run at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco (February 19-March 15).

Playing Lou and James, a couple trying to escape a sinister force, are Cher Álvarez and Travis A. Knight. Álvarez has appeared regionally at such theatres as The Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, and Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, and appeared on television in shows such as Grey's Anatomy and NCIS: Hawai'i. Knight is a Jeff Award-nominated actor based in Chicago, where he also serves as Associate Artistic Director and ensemble member at A Red Orchid Theatre.

The cast also includes Shannon Cochran as James's mother Carolanne and Kate Fry as Mrs. Cotgrave, a medium. Cochran's many credits include Steppenwolf Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company, and Goodman Theatre, as well as the West Coast premiere of Broadway's Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in San Francisco, and the national tours of Roundabout Theatre Company's Cabaret and August: Osage County. This production marks a return to the horror genre for Cochran, as she appeared in the 2002 film The Ring. Fry has appeared off-Broadway at Lincoln Center, and regional credits include work at Center Theatre Group in LA, McCarter Theater Center, Goodman Theatre, and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. The cast is also joined by understudies Caron Buinis, Caroline Hendricks, and Michael Holding.

Playwright Levi Holloway is an ensemble member of Chicago's A Red Orchid Theatre company, which debuted his plays Grey House (prior to an acclaimed Broadway run) and Turret, starring Michael Shannon. He is the co-founder of the Neverbird Project, a youth-based deaf and hard of hearing theatre company, and specializes in working with deaf children and creating theatre for deaf people.

Felix Barrett, the original production's director, is the founder and artistic director of Punchdrunk, conceiving and directing such groundbreaking theatrical productions as Sleep No More (a reimagining of Shakespeare's Macbeth), The Burnt City, and Viola's Room. Barrett directed last year's critically acclaimed production of Paranormal Activity at Leeds Playhouse in the UK, which opened on the West End this winter.

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