Spread the Love: The Haunting of Chip Lake Lodge by J. Robert Wilkins

This week on Spread the Love we talk about The Haunting of Chip Lake Lodge by J. Robert Wilkins.

Filmed live on location near a remote lodge.

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Transcript

Welcome to this week’s Spread the Love. We are at the Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville, Ontario for the CODE conference (The Council of Ontario Drama and Dance Educators). We’re at a lodge, so let’s talk about a play that’s got a lodge. This is The Haunting of Chip Lake Lodge by J. Robert Wilkins. Four teenagers show up at Chip Lake Lodge. They are expecting a prom that they will never forget. Well, a wrong turn and the wrong lodge, and this unforgetable experience takes a supernatural turn. Craig, what do you love about The Haunting of Chip Lake Lodge?

Well for me, this play is all about story and character. The characters are great in this play. The four teens at the centre of the story feel so real. I feel like I’ve met them before. So when they find themselves in trouble toward the end of the play, I feel personally involved in what happens to them. It’s a great example of a mystery, bordering on horror, that avoids stereotypes completely. Lindsay, what do you love about The Haunting of Chip Lake Lodge?

I totally agree with Craig about the lack of stereotype. The characters are so well drawn, and that’s what drew me to the play in the first place. For example, we have one of the characters, Justin, a teenager who describes himself as ‘the great and powerful Justin – is terrified of rats. He spends most of the play on top of chairs to get away from them.

The play doesn’t get a lot of productions. It has kind of a funky time length for high schools. It’s sixty minutes. We know that’s long. But we think you should take a chance on this play. Particularly, if you have an accompanying technical program. Most of our plays can be done with two cubes and a bare stage. This one has a lot of really interesting and appropriate technical elements for high school students. From the set, from the lights, sound and the supernatural.

That’s it for Spread the Love!