About Stage Fright
OUR VALUES
Artistic Integrity
We make sure our values are reflected in our work, experimenting and pushing the limits of theater while employing technical precision, skill, and dedication.
Queer Perspective
We present stories and characters that fall outside of social norms, and champion work that may be subversive, camp, punk, and disorienting.
Horror
We focus primarily on the many facets of the horror genre because it has a special and symbiotic connection to queer culture, and can make space for all kinds of stories.
Community
We nurture our local community to appreciate and participate in genre theater. We aim to produce entertainment that appeals to audiences who might feel alienated by, or uninterested in, typical theater.
Growth
We strive for a financial model that pays artists competitive fees, attracting local and touring artists. We are developing year-round programming. We will eventually operate our own venue that can support a suite of programming that includes community events, workshops, and educational programs.
WHY HORROR?
Horror has long had a special connection to queer culture. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, many writers of the Gothic novels popular at the time used their stories to express forbidden and even unnamable desires such as homosexuality.
The monster or antagonist of a horror story can represent being “other” in the status quo world. Many horror storytellers—out or otherwise—have used the genre to express their own queerness, and to illustrate the fear of going against what society thought was permissible.
For several decades in the 20th century, the Motion Picture Production Code made portraying gay relationships and themes illegal. Horror filmmakers would often code their stories so that queers could recognize themselves within, but the rest of the audience could choose to ignore the flags.
Today, we may more openly tell LGBTQ+ stories, but the horror genre still appeals to people who feel like outsiders, iconoclasts, trailblazers, and boundary pushers.
Our Bloody Mission
To produce original theatre by professional and emerging independent artists, of the highest artistic integrity, centering trans and queer creators and audiences. The horror genre has a special and symbiotic connection to queer culture. We believe in the power that theatre and horror have to build and bond communities.
FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS…
Stage Fright was founded by Amica Hunter and Jeff Desautels in 2022. Both were called to The Theatre at a young age, adorning their bodies with fantastical garb and smearing makeup on their flesh well into adulthood.
One day, one whispered to the other (it doesn’t matter who was who), “Let’s start a theatre festival!” and the other cried, “NO!” but the first insisted. So they gathered their friends and put on little shows that were kind of spooky but also funny, and most of them were gay!
The next year, they said, “Let’s do it again, but SCARIER and FUNNIER and GAYER!” And so the curse will continue into eternity, each year producing yet more bizarre ungodly horrors for all to enjoy.
Hail Satan,
Amica & Jeff ♥