Bad Seed hits the black box

By Kate Eldridge

I got the position of “director” for Bad Seed because I am a huge nerd. Considering I went into my interview with a stack of theories as to why people love to see horror movies and research about child psychopaths, it’s pretty safe to say that’s true. I learned, however, that that’s actually the first rule of directing: you must be a big fat nerd about your show. The second is to never be ashamed of how much you love your show. And the third is to never shut up about it, no matter how much your friends complain.

It was a big surprise that I fell so in love with Bad Seed, because I have always been terrified by the horror genre. Simply listening to the plot descriptions of The Exorcist, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Blair Witch Project gave me nightmares. The title sequence for “American Horror Story” kept me up for nights on end. I’ve spent my entire life avoiding scary movies, which was why it was so strange to find myself standing in front of an actor, asking them to act like more of a psychopath and asking another for a louder, more agonizing death-scream. And, much to my parents’ surprise, I never got scared. Because Bad Seed was not meant to scare; it was meant to evoke emotion.

Every single psychological element in Bad Seed is entirely plausible. The psychopathic child, the realization of a childhood memory through a dream, the idea of a ‘psychopath gene’—all of it. That’s why this show is so terrifying; it could really, truly happen. Psychopathic children like Rhoda, the main character, and their distressed mothers, like Christine, are real and part of our universe. This is why the black box theater was transformed so the audience members are sitting right in the characters’ living room, and so they walk directly through their front door to enter the show. Lights have been set outside the windows to create a sunny day outside of the apartment building. Costumes and make-up represent what normal people would wear and how they would style their hair, not just what models in glamour magazines portray. The fear and emotion in Bad Seed is so strong simply because it’s rooted in reality.

My primary goal as director was to make this show seem as real as possible. It may sound crazy, but I genuinely hope that people in the audience are able to feel the same fear, sadness, and helplessness Christine felt herself, because putting yourself in the world of a horrific story is how you really feel its impact.

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