Someone Else’s House by Jared Mezzochi

Starring Jared Mezzochi

Scenic Design by Sibyl Wickersheimer

Costume Design by Kiana Vincenty

Lighting Design by Andrew Robert Cissna

Sound Design by Claudia Jenkins

Production Stage Manager: Tori Schuchmann

All screenshots taken for the Geffen Stayhouse 2021 production and the TheaterWorks Hartford 2021 production

PRESS:

GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE PRODUCTION:

“A FRIGHTENING DIGITAL COUP-DE-THEATRE”

“Someone Else’s House,” produced by Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, is an altogether shorter, tauter and shrewder work. Developed for an online audience and running just under an hour, it’s a chiseled piece of at-home horror, ostensibly based on a colonial-era New Hampshire house that Mezzocchi’s parents and siblings once inhabited. “This isn’t just a ghost story,” Mezzocchi says. “It’s real. It happened to my family.”

Mezzocchi, in flannel shirt, wool beanie and quarantine beard, makes an appealing narrator. The story he tells, from a location that becomes clear as the tale proceeds, is an extremely creepy one. (The short version: Maybe don’t buy a house with a former slaughtering cellar in the basement?) The design is meticulous, the archival photos unsettling, the “are they or aren’t they?” Zoom glitches unnerving. And if you have ever suspected that your furniture is out to get you, this is the digital work for you.”

- Alexis Soloski, The New York Times

“Part crime podcast, part Blair Witch Project, yet perfectly suited to the Zoom environment, Someone Else’s House is as engaging and satisfying an entertainment experience as anything I’ve seen during this time of upheaval. It represents outstanding artistry on the part of Mezzocchi and his director, Margot Bordelon.”

- Laura Foti Cohen, Larchmont Buzz

“Director Margot Bordelon gets strong work from Mezzocchi, and the subtle transitions from area to area succeed at creating a gradually darkening mood.”

- Terry Morgan, LA Arts Beat

“Much of the 70-minute intermission-free show is effective thanks to director Margot Bordelon, Obie Award-winning writer-performer Mezzocchi, who has a natural presence and is a gifted storyteller, and the effects by Virtual Design Collective.”

- Harker Jones, Broadway World

“Without giving away any more, I will just say that Someone Else’s House is an interesting experiment of adapting the horror genre to the virtual theatre. The combination of tangible objects and skillful video special effects (by Virtual Design Collective aka VIDCO) unites theatre and film, the living and their ghosts. Perhaps most importantly, Jared Mezzocchi, directed by Margot Bordelon, is an engaging storyteller. The faces of the audience members leaning forward, brightened by the glow of their computer screens, feels as if I am listening to a ghost story by a “fire.”’

- Asya Gorovits, No Proscenium

“The tale holds our attention for 70 minutes — thanks to our host Mezzocchi, director Margot Bordelon and especially the great Sibyl Wickersheimer, whose production design creates a home that allows for moving cameras and special effects”

- Tony Frankel, Stage and Cinema

“This past year — a year with no in-person theater — companies around the world have had to pivot from their theatrical plans and find some type of way to deliver content to art-starved patrons. The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles certainly led the way, presenting a number of exquisite Zoom theatrical experiences, ranging from illusion shows to a Bollywood cooking show to a puzzle show. Now they are taking the virtual format in a new direction with a haunted house tale called Someone Else’s House, scaring audiences thanks to writer / performer Jared Mezzocchi and director Margot Bordelon.

“The one-hour show is an effective exercise of virtual storytelling with haunting, things-that-go-bump-in-the-night scares. Mezzocchi is an expert teller of tales, and for this theatrical presentation, he has quite the narrative to share.”

- John Soltes, Hollywood Soapbox

HARTFORD THEATERWORKS PRODUCTION:

“If you saw the dizzying multimedia climax of “Russian Troll Farm,” which Mezzocchi co-directed with Elizabeth Williamson, you know the power of the virtual tools he has at his disposal. He also has a great collaborator in director Margot Bordelon, who was part of a few valuable theater experiments herself when she attended the Yale (now Geffen) School of Drama a few years ago.

The tale is clearly and crisply told. The visuals are direct and focused. If anything (or anyone) wanders, it’s for a purpose.”

- Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant

“Directed with a cunning wink by Margot Bordelon Someone Else’s House gives Mezzocchi an open entry to explore and dig deep into the complex history of this 200-year-old New England house”

- Times Square Chronicles