Candlelight Theatre invites guests to walk the halls of the Benjamin Harrison Presidential site as they experience “The Witching Hour” this October.
Founded in 2004, the Candlelight Theatre is the resident theatre company of the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site. Led by creative director Donna Wing, the company hosts four theatrical performances on the grounds each year — including a collection of seated plays in the spring, and holiday-themed walk-through experiences for Valentine’s Day, Christmas and Halloween.
Running Oct. 10-11, 17-18 and 25-26, “The Witching Hour” invites Hoosiers to explore the haunted happenings of the Harrison home between the hours of 3-4 a.m.
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“In the fall, we try to put something in that relates to a witch, or story of something of Indiana, and Indiana history — like, several years ago, we did ghost tales of the Civil War,” Wing said. “Sometimes we’ll have plays that will just focus on Indiana, but this one is witches.”
When it comes to live theatre, most people wouldn’t think of a U.S. president’s home as the venue, but Wing said three particular things that make Candlelight Theatre unique and keep their shows sold out.
To her knowledge, Wing said the Harrison home is the only U.S. President’s home to feature live performances within the actual rooms of the house.
“Eighty percent of everything around you is a Harrison original,” Wing said. “They might be in a room and there’s Harrison furniture and an actor sits down in a chair; we will bring in a replacement chair for the actors, so we’re not touching. Even the room and the bed in which he died is in one of the rooms where witches will be performing and bring that into the play.”
Additionally, being inside the actual home, the Candlelight Theatre can offer an intimate experience that guests cannot get anywhere else, Wing said. Shows like “The Witching Hour” are usually an hour long. Performances begin every 30 minutes, staggering groups of 15 through the house with an actor as their guide.
While the shows aren’t necessarily interactive in the sense that characters reach out and touch guests, Wing said there is no traditional “fourth wall,” and the actors are close enough to the guests to engage in conversation with them, ask questions, show off or even react to their responses.
Candlelight Theatre is also a company theatre with about 24 actors, all diverse in age, gender and background. They’re able to maintain this core company by presenting entirely original works, written and produced by resident playwright Jim Trofatter.
“One of our misconceptions is because we’re in a U.S. president’s home, everything we do is history,” Wing said. “We’re not reenactors … Most of our plays go anywhere from Victorian to in the 1960s.”
Initially, Trofatter didn’t see himself as a playwright, let alone someone who would be writing original productions for a theatre company at a U.S. president’s home. Theatre had always been a part of Trofatter’s life, though mainly as an actor. In 2003, a friend convinced him to start writing, and he never stopped.
In 2005, Trofatter joined the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, first working on ghost tale reenactments, then as their resident playwright, producing original works.
“The Witching Hour” is a part of the Candlelight Theatre’s ghost tales production which happens in the fall each year, Trofatter said. Guests are led through the Harrison home to view a variety of short plays and scenarios in each room. Each story features witches — historical, fictional and legendary — including the Salem witches, the Gingerbread Witch and Glinda and Elphaba from “Wicked.”
“Being a spiritual person myself, I always wake up at 3 a.m., and I looked into that and … people always say, ‘Well it seems, for some reason, that’s the time that the veil between the worlds is thinnest and that’s when the spirits can talk to you,’” Trofatter said. “It was originally designed around this concept that, well, maybe this could be a Hogwarts walk-through, but we took that out and just changed it into various types of witches and warlocks.”
What’s nice about having the Harrison home as the stage for his work is the fact that it’s Victorian, Trofatter said. The home itself makes a beautiful background while allowing the company to highlight that era of history throughout the show. Most performances, like “The Witching Hour,” feature elements from history but also weave in aspects of folklore and literature. This way, people get a little taste of legends, myths, and “Americana lore” that they might not have otherwise.
The stories themselves are not truly scary; the show is designed for audiences of all ages, including children. However, the storytelling aspect of the show is especially crucial because there are stories and myths that some people haven’t heard about, Trofatter said.
“We really need myth in our culture to help define who we are,” Trofatter said.
There is a sense of seriousness surrounding the idea of “the witch,” witchcraft and Wicca within both historical and modern American culture, in addition to a level of fun or entertainment.
“The witch is sort of the dark side of our culture. So, we don’t ignore the shadow, we recognize that the shadow’s there, and we can look at it,” Trofatter added. “But we can’t ignore that people look at this and say ‘well, that’s evil. … It’s okay to look at it, it’s not going to hurt us.”
“The Witching Hour” features six performances throughout the month of October. Shows are an hour long and begin every 30 minutes from 6-8:30 p.m. on Oct. 10-11 and 17-18 and 2-4 p.m. Oct. 25-26. Tickets are $17; $15 for students aged 6-12, and can be purchased at bhpsite.org/visit/candlelight-theatre or by calling 317-631-1888.
Contact Arts & Culture Reporter Chloe McGowan at 317-762-7848. Follow her on X @chloe_mcgowanxx.
Chloe McGowan is the Arts & Culture Reporter for the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper. Originally from Columbus, OH, Chloe has a bachelor's in journalism from The Ohio State University. She is a former IndyStar Pulliam Fellow, and has previously worked for Indy Maven, The Lantern, and CityScene Media Group. In her free time, Chloe enjoys live theatre, reading, baking and keeping her plants alive.
