Adapted by Julie Hoverson from the story "The Canterville Ghost" by Oscar Wilde [Family friendly] In the late 1800s, an American family moves into an old English castle, only to find that the fixtures include an ancestral ghost... Cast List Sir Simon de Canterville - Cole Hornaday Lady Eleanor - Julie Hoverson Mr. Otis - Michael Faigenblum Mrs. Otis - Megan Lane Mrs. Umney - Lyndsey Thomas Washington - Jasper Loovis Virginia - Beverly Poole Cecil, Duke of Cheshire - Powers Chandler The Twins - E. Vickrey, R. LeBoeuf   Music:  Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com) Editing and Sound:   Julie Hoverson Cover Photo:  Peer Kamphuis (courtesy of Stock Xchange.com) "What kind of a place is it?  Why it's an Olde English Castle - where else would you find an ancestral spirit?" *********************************************************** The Canterville Ghost Who doesn't love the classic Oscar Wilde satire "The Canterville Ghost"?  It's a story about a traditional horrific British spirit haunting a traditional British Manor, who runs afoul of a very modern (for the late 1800s) American family who has no respect at all for tradition.  This has always been one of my two favorite classic comedic ghost stories, the other being "The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall", which I will probably get in here soon, just because of the season. I had so much fun adapting this, playing with the practical, unflappable, and often gormless Americans.  I did make one major change in the cast, which was not entirely original to me.  I added the ghost of Lady Canterville to pester and haunt Sir Simon - and also give him someone to rant to, complain at, and plan with, since otherwise all his best bits would either be pages of soliloquies or just left out (like they usually end up being left out when this story gets made into films).  I really really tried to keep as much of the descriptions of Sir Simon's various semblances and costumes in the dialogue as I could.  They're so much fun, along with the descriptions of whom he terrified with them.  I crammed it as full as possible, without going completely off the deep end. I recall when I was in grade school, I read a novelization someone had done based on The Canterville Ghost where they added Lady Canterville as a ghost, but I specifically didn't go back and find that book again before writing this, so I wouldn't accidentally usurp any other ideas from it - I have a good memory, but it has been decades since I read it (more then 2), so I should be pretty safe.  Including her is a logical step, anyway, since if HE haunts the house because he was murdered, why shouldn't SHE also haunt it because HE murdered HER? When I set about to cast this, I was still pretty much working with friends and locals, and not yet to the point of recruiting or auditioning people on line.  And while I knew I wanted Cole as Sir Simon  - and of course myself as Lady Eleanor, since I wrote the role for me (a big advantage of being a writer/producer), I had no particular idea who else I wanted in there.  So I got Beverly Poole (who was at the time in high school) and said "Cast all the living characters from your high school drama class."  In response, she rubbed her hands together gleefully (and a bit evilly), grinned, and said "Ooh!  The Power!" Of all the special effects in this story that were hard to make or find, considering it has rattling chains and moans and all the classic ghost noises, the most awkward turned out to be "knocking small bottle to floor" and "throwing pillow across room". *********************************************************** THE CANTERVILLE GHOST Cast: OLIVIA The English: Sir SIMON de Canterville, (300+) Ghost Lady ELEANOR de Canterville, (300+) his dead wife UMNEY, (60) housekeeper CECIL, (17) young Duke of Cheshire MOVER (any) The Americans: HIRAM Otis, (40) American Minister Lucretia OTIS (36) his wife WASHINGTON Otis, (18) know-it-all VIRGINIA Otis, (15) sweet young thing GROVER and OSCAR Otis, (12) the twins