“Spooky and claustrophobic and weird and funny,” is how drama teacher Laramie Dean describes Hellgate’s upcoming fall play, We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

The story features two sisters living in a huge house on the edge of a village with their wheelchair-bound uncle, and is narrated by one of the sisters: Mary Katherine “Merricat” Blackwood, who Mr. Dean describes as “a strong female protagonist not afraid to fight for what she wants”. The sisters are the last remaining members of the family, as the rest of their family was poisoned with arsenic years ago. Although she was acquitted of the crime, the local people of the village are distrusting of the younger sister Constance. When their cousin visits the estate with intentions Merricat isn’t entirely sure of, the sisters must work to protect each other from the outside world.

As one of the two extracurricular plays Hellgate produces each year, students of all grade levels will be a part of Castle’s large cast, says Dean. The play’s four main characters will be Merricat (Alora Fradkin, senior), Constance (Marly Scolatti, senior), Uncle Julian (Matthew Miller, junior), and Charles (Gabe Rayle, sophomore).

The last time Hellgate produced such a “spooky” play was in 2016, with Dracula. The play is based on the 1962 thriller novel by Shirley Jackson (one of Mr. Dean’s favorite authors), and also came out as a movie this September.