A woman flies through the air with wings while brandishing an ax in Shadowbox Live’s adaption of Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Credit: Courtesy of Buzz Crisafulli
A notable ensemble theater is bringing a frightening new production to Columbus.
Shadowbox Live — a Columbus-based theater organization — is offering Ohio State students discounted tickets to “Sleepy Hollow: An American Ghost Story,” a theatrical adaptation of Washington Irving’s short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” The show, which follows a headless horseman who haunts the town of Sleepy Hollow, will offer showtimes from Thursday to Nov. 17 at the Worly Building — located at 503 S. Front St.
According to Shadowbox Live’s website, the discounted tickets — which are available for purchase at the Ohio Union — will cost $8 for a one-seat table and $16 for a two-seat table, compared to the regular price of $46.50 for a one-seat table and $91.50 for a two-seat table.
Shadowbox Live CEO Stacie Boord said the company used to have a great relationship with Ohio State until they switched from tickets to table sales. Since then, the organization has stopped offering discounted tickets at the Ohio Union, but has found a way to make it work for this show.
“We realized there’s still a way to accommodate students because we love having college students in our space. I think our entertainment is right for college students,” Boord said.
Boord said Shadowbox Live is one of the largest resident ensemble theaters in the country, and those involved in the organization help with everything event-related — whether that’s cooking and serving food or performing in the shows.
“The artists take care of everything. We kind of guide the experience from the moment you make the reservation till the end,” Boord said. “The performers are the people helping serve food. The performers are also in the kitchen making the food. It’s a really unique experience.”
Boord said the show offers students a rare opportunity to enjoy an original production.
“This is a way for us to offer a student discount for students — to make it affordable for them to come and experience an arts experience that is unique to Columbus,” Boord said. “There is nothing like this anywhere else in the nation.”
Katy Psenicka, chief choreographer and creator of Shadowbox Live’s Sleepy Hollow show, said the adaptation will be told through “dance theater.”
“The performance discipline of the show is what we would call dance theater,” Psenicka said. “This means that the story is primarily told through contemporary dance, and the scenes that we have are sort of like the connective tissue that get us from dance to dance.”
Psenicka said “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is a story she wanted to adapt for a long time, and she was thrilled to finally have her chance.
“‘Sleepy Hollow’ is one of the shows that was kind of rolling around in the back of my mind for a while, and we were able to find a slot for it that aligned really nicely with the spooky season,” Psenicka said.
Psenicka said because this story leaves so much up to the reader’s imagination, she wanted to add her own creative touch to the performance.
“Something that I really like about Washington Irving’s short story is that it does not resolve,” Psenicka said. “You never really know if there is a headless horseman, you don’t know if he was responsible for Ichabod’s disappearance, you don’t know if it was Brom, you don’t know if it was someone else. That is what is so fun about the story — it leads you to your own imagination, and that is something that we are definitely doing with our show.”
In addition to offering discounted tickets to Ohio State students, Boord said Shadowbox Live will be offering transportation to hundreds of students from local high schools and middle schools so they can watch special matinee performances of the show. Ohio State’s Department of History will also supply these students with information that contextualizes the story’s time period.
“We’ll bus in hundreds of Columbus City school students to watch the show, and it’s always nice to supply some kind of supplemental study guides for the teachers,” Boord said. “The [Ohio State] history department helped put together a study guide about the time of the Revolutionary War. The guide gives an overview of what was going on at that time politically, economically and socially to provide a bit more context of what this town of Sleepy Hollow may have been enduring.”
Psenicka said she can’t wait to reveal what she’s been working on for so long.
“I’m really excited to share this with the world because it’s really special,” Psenicka said. “Whenever we’re putting shows together, to watch them go from what’s inside my imagination to what ends up on stage is fascinating.”
For more information about the show, including specific showtimes and where to buy discounted tickets, visit Ohio State’s website.
This story was updated Oct. 2 at 9:38 a.m. to correct the dates during which Shadowbox Live will host showtimes of their “Sleepy Hollow: An American Ghost Story” production.
