Episode 2 - "The Ghost Light"

Photos by Janna Hove.  Synopsis by Jim Cej.

Cast of Characters

Jason Hardwick as Keaton Abbott 
-impresario, theatre owner-

 Kristi Hansen as Bobbi Smarts 
-designer and stage hand -

Delia Barnett as Daisy Darling
 -showgirl, born in a trunk-

Tom Edwards as Riff Van Winkel 
-ex-WWI pilot, wing walker-

Matt Alden as Jack Potts 
-performer in search of an act-

Jesse Gervais as Lou Costello
-the accountant-

*       *       * 

October 28th, 1919

Bobbi Smarts goes to see Keaton Abbott. She wants to post a formal complaint against someone in the theatre. He Is 100% supportive. She was painting late one night, just her and the ghost light. And the ghost light asked her to do things that she wasn’t comfortable doing. 

You want to file a complaint against the ghost light? Since it is technically not on our payroll and is an inanimate object he doesn’t think there is anything he can do. She thinks it was an abuse of power. Electrical power. If we don’t pay our electric bill, there are no shows and we close again. 

 He tells her that he is going to give her a raise and never talk about this again. Bobbi suggests a buddy system to make sure that nothing happens again. He will stay at the theatre and keep an eye out for her.

*      *      *

 Jack Potts approaches Lou Costello about how much it would cost to turn the theatre into a haunted house. He tells him that they can’t afford it. 
And the Ferguson Theatre is already haunted.  

 Long ago, the theatre was a pasture. 
The man brought in the cattle in his barn on a cold blustery day. Lightning and thunder broke out and lightning struck the weather vane. 

The barn burnt down and the farmer and cows were trapped inside. 

Those cows now haunt this theatre.

 Jack Potts thinks that they are haunting the theatre because they want to perform. He’ll direct them! Ghost Cows!

*      *      *

 Bobbi visits Riff in his dressing room. She is troubled. She feels that she has been dishonest with him. Does he think that she leads people on? He barely knows her but that means she is a liar, a scammer. Does that mean what she told him before was a lie? No, but something happened late one night in the theatre. It was the ghost light. She had an affair with the ghost light, but he forced her, she swears. 

 But in your heart, you wanted the ghost light at that moment. 
Did you give it an orgasm? 
She doesn’t know what that is.

*      *      *

Daisy Darling falls asleep in the theatre cafe and is visited by the ghost of her father, a mime. 

 He communicates solely through charades. 

 It is just like her third birthday party.

*      *      * 

Lou has more on his mind than some ghost. 
He visits Keaton Abbott with grave financial news.
 Prohibition starts in January of next year. 
He offers Lou a drink. 
Keaton says that it won’t be a problem. 
We’ll serve coffee, tea, soda pop. 
We’ll give each person a teapot, but do you know what’ll be inside? Hooch. If a cop comes in and asks for a tea, we give them tea. but if they ask for HOT tea, they get hooch. We’ll have a code word - 98 degrees. 

 Lou suggests that they put on a show to advertise that we’ll still be selling booze. Keaton thinks that it us a great idea. 
He thinks that he and Lou will make a great team. 
Lou says that they can call themselves Costello and Abbott.

*      *      *

Jack Potts has the first rehearsal of Ghost Cows! 
Riff plays the farmer, and the ghost cows play themselves. They reenact the story of the fire. 

 Jack has Riff run the cows through an exercise that will help them remember what it was like to be alive. He tries milking one, but it turns out to be a bull.

*      *      *

Bobbi talks with Daisy. She starts to tell her about her experience with the ghost light...

...when they are interrupted by the ghost light. 

Daisy threatens the ghost light.

  It will now treat Bobbi with respect.

*      *      *

Keaton Abbott tries to get some sleep in his office, when he is visited by the ghost of Daisy’s father, the mime. He’s tired of not talking and tells Keaton that he is worried about his daughter. He tried to tell her that theatre will send you to hell. He broke a lot of rules to be there. 
He is doing theatre in hell. Jubilations Dinner Theatre. 

 The ghost says that he can bring the ghosts of performers back for one performance on Hallowe’en, but it had better be well promoted. They don’t want to show up and wonder where the crowd is. 

*      *      *

Daisy is visited by Lou Costello in her dressing room. 
It used to be the dressing room of Scarlett Von Blood. 
She was beautiful and died from suffocating while she was peroxiding her hair in the sink. 
Everything is the same. It’s eerie. She thinks it’s nice. 
He tells her story of many big words. She lives in a world of broad brush strokes and abstractions and he could never understand it. But surely some of it must have rubbed off in all the time he’s spent in the theatre. She tells him that he must come back and tell her more stories. He thanks her and tells her that she is beautiful. Most people tell her that when she is dancing, but she is actually quite plain. Lou says that she is beautiful even when she is standing still.

 *      *      *

The ghost light undergoes sensitivity training.  

Bobbi may have looked like she was having fun, but it holds power over her.

 It tells them that it is victimized by the ghosts in the theatre. He will be nothing but professional in the future.

*      *      *

There is a gathering of all of ghosts in the theatre. 
One of them doesn’t want to be a ghost anymore. 
He’ll just fade into the background. 
He doesn’t want to spook or haunt. 
He just wants to be by himself. 
Nobody really sees him.

 *      *      * 

Daisy practices a few new dance moves for Lou Costello. He tells her that her performances are very popular with the audience. Her vocabulary has improved since his visit. She is oblivious to how much he is enjoying her performance. He starts to tell her how much, when he stops himself as fraternizing wouldn’t be professional. 
So you don’t want to fraternize with me?

*      *      *

After being tormented by ghosts for 48 hours, Jack Potts goes to Keaton Abbott. He’s been able to see dead people ever since he was a child. it’s like a sixth sense. He feels that he has failed as both a director and a necromancer. 

He thinks thanks the theatre must be burned down, or visited by a small woman with powers that be doesn’t understand.

*      *      * 

 Riff sneaks into the workshop to surprise Bobbi Smarts, who is working on his airplane set. 

 She jumps when he surprises her. 
He wants to apologize for not listening to her. 
He knows that she is afraid.

  Maybe they started off too fast. 
Maybe we didn’t talk enough first. 
So he doesn’t hold it against her? 
She is figuring out who she is. 
It’s okay to be friends. 

 It’s actually a very good thing. It’s a way to begin. 

 They kiss.

*      *      *

Daisy has called Keaton Abbott into her dressing room. 
She wants to speak to him about the amount of stage time she has been getting lately. She likes what she’s been getting, but every once in a while she’d like to be on first. 

 He agrees. You know what we have? A bunch of old people. You know what you’re not? A bunch of old people. 
She can open AND close the show. 
Show me three good acts, and I’ll headline you. 
She’ll try. 
Don’t try, just do. 

 She asks if he likes her. 
He likes her so much, that his wife will think that they’re never alone in a room together. 
But we’ll know the truth.

*      *      *

Jack Potts dozes. 
He hears someone calling his name and hides in a closet. 

 He is visited by a drunk Bobbi Smarts. 
She is romantically drunk. 

 She confesses that she has been with the ghost light. 
He confesses that the ghost light is haunted. By his ex. 

 Bobbi is enraged and attacks him with a bottle.

*      *      *