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Paranormal Activity: A New Story Live on Broadway is playing at the August Wilson Theatre, with a new script by Levi Holloway and direction by Felix Barrett. A Dread Central interview and review describes how the production uses live performance and illusions to create suspense, while producer Simon Friend says audience reactions are part of the shared horror experience.
Paranormal Activity: A New Story Live on Broadway is playing at New York’s August Wilson Theatre, bringing the horror franchise to the stage in a production written by Levi Holloway and directed by Felix Barrett. The show follows a couple trying to leave their past behind, while its use of live actors and theatrical illusions puts supernatural suspense in the same room as the audience.
The play centers on James and Lou, played by Travis A. Knight and Cher Álvarez. The couple move from Chicago to London hoping to escape their past, but the story’s haunting follows them across the Atlantic. The source report does not provide a detailed plot synopsis beyond that premise.
Felix Barrett, founder of immersive theater company Punchdrunk and co-director of Sleep No More, directs the production. Simon Friend and Hanna Osmolska lead the producing team through Melting Pot, with Jason Blum and Blumhouse among the production’s partners. Chris Fisher, whose credits include illusions work on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Stranger Things: The First Shadow, is the illusions designer.
The source report describes the production as an experience that relies on the tension of live performance, rather than simply transferring movie scares to a stage. Its reviewer says the shared physical space made the threat feel unusually immediate. That is the reviewer’s response, not a measurable claim about how all audiences react.
Live Illusions Put Horror in the Room
The production offers one example of how established horror properties are being adapted for live theater. Onstage, performers and audience members experience the same moments in real time. A scare can prompt a response across the auditorium, making audience noise part of the event rather than something added in post-production.
That format also places unusual demands on suspense. Film can rely on editing, camera movement, and sound to guide attention; theater must create and sustain its effects in front of an audience. The source report points to illusion design and restraint as important parts of the production’s approach. Its broader suggestion—that live effects may appeal to audiences fatigued by computer-generated imagery—is commentary, not evidence of a general shift in audience preferences.
The show arrives amid other stage adaptations and works drawing on horror or supernatural material. The source cites Beetlejuice, Death Becomes Her, The Lost Boys, and Stranger Things: The First Shadow, alongside longstanding theater titles such as Sweeney Todd and Little Shop of Horrors. That range helps explain why this production is relevant beyond its franchise: it tests how a familiar screen property can use the particular strengths of a live stage.
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From Screen Franchise to Stage
Paranormal Activity began as a screen horror property; this Broadway production tells a new story rather than simply presenting the original film onstage, according to the report’s title and description. Holloway wrote the play, and Barrett’s background includes immersive theater, although this production keeps the audience seated rather than inviting them to move through the set.
The source connects the show to a wider pattern of horror and genre material appearing in theaters. Some productions adapt existing screen stories, while others use theatrical techniques to make supernatural effects visible live. For example, the report notes that Chris Fisher worked on the illusions for Stranger Things: The First Shadow and now serves as illusions designer for Paranormal Activity. These credits provide a relevant link between the productions, but do not establish that one directly led to the other.
The source is a Dread Central interview and first-person report. It combines production details and attributed comments with the writer’s own impressions of the show. Its discussion of the future of stage horror is an interpretation of these developments, not an announced industry plan or forecast.
““Horror is an experience to be had together, and a huge amount of the audience experience of Paranormal Activity is having an auditorium of people scream, and then have a round of nervous laughter all together.””
— Simon Friend, producer
Production Details Still Unreported
The source does not state how long the Broadway engagement will run, whether additional dates or venues have been announced, or what ticket availability and pricing are. It also does not provide box-office figures, audience surveys, or independent measures of how the show is performing.
Some descriptions of the production’s effects and impact come from the source writer’s first-person account. The report does not disclose specific illusion methods, so it is not possible to assess exactly how individual effects are achieved. Nor does the article establish whether the production will lead to more stage adaptations or change theater programming across the industry.
The Broadway Run Continues
The immediate next step is the production’s continuing run at the August Wilson Theatre. Readers looking to attend should check the theater or official ticketing channels for current performance dates and availability; the source report does not give a schedule or announce a later milestone.
Further reporting could clarify the length of the engagement, audience and box-office response, and whether the production will announce other venues or a tour. Until those details are confirmed, the clearest development is that this new stage story is being presented on Broadway, with its creators using live performance and illusion to shape the audience’s experience of horror.
Key Questions
Where is Paranormal Activity: A New Story Live on Broadway playing?
It is playing at the August Wilson Theatre in New York, according to the source report.
Who wrote and directed the play?
Levi Holloway wrote the play, and Felix Barrett directed it.
What is the stage story about?
It follows James and Lou, a couple who move from Chicago to London to escape their past, only to find that the haunting they hoped to leave behind has followed them.
Who designed the production’s illusions?
Chris Fisher is the illusions designer. The source report does not describe the specific techniques used in the show.
Has a closing date or tour been announced?
The source report gives no closing date or tour announcement. Current performance information should be checked with the theater or official ticketing channels.
Source: dreadcentral.com
