An American couple attempting to make a fresh start in London soon discover this is more easily said than done when things start going bump in the night in Levi Holloway’s terrorific stage spinoff of the movie franchise Paranormal Activity, now scaring the living daylights out of thrill-and-chill-seeking Angelinos at the Ahmanson.

 The couple in question are James (Patrick Heusinger) and Lou (Cher Álvarez), and it’s not just the former’s job that has brought them from Chicago to the UK.

There’s also the matter of Lou’s mental health issues (she’s on extra-strength antidepressants) and the hope that their new London home will be a tad less haunted than the one they left behind in the Windy City.

But what if it’s not their living quarters that were being visited by spirits of the dead … but Lou herself?

What if a spate of sudden blackouts and screeching security system alarms don’t have a logical explanation? What if doors suddenly swinging open and framed pictures suddenly swaying from their hooks are signs of paranormal activity of the evil kind? What if all this means that James and Lou are doomed to die in the house they were hoping to call home?

If you aren’t already feeling more than a bit unnerved by what you’ve just read, just wait until you experience it live at the Ahmanson, where a team of brilliant stage designers have combined talents to keep you grasping your armrests (or the person next to you) as you anticipate the next jump scare or how-do-they-do-that illusion.

But Paranormal Activity isn’t just about special effects and waiting for the next gasp-inducing shock.

Holloway’s play is also a gripping personal drama of a couple of 30somethings scarred by past events whose marriage is at risk of imploding, and with Holloway restaging Felix Barrett’s pitch-perfect direction and with performances the caliber of Heusinger’s hunky, harried James and Álvarez’s vulnerable, victimized Lou, no matter the improbability of the events surrounding the young marrieds (at least for those who don’t believe in haunted houses, demonic possession, and the like), it’s hard not to become invested in these two tormented expats.

Still, audiences wouldn’t be filling the Ahmanson as they’re sure to be doing if Paranormal Activity were just another dramatic four-hander (we also meet James’s born-again Texas mother, played by a folksy/creepy Shannon Cochran and the paranormal expert enlisted to ghostbust the couple’s home, brought to properly understated life by Kate Fry), because stellar performances aside, it’s the Paranormal Activities design team’s combined talents that make this the scariest stage production in years.

Scenic designer Fly Davis’s rafters-reaching two-story house means that no matter which room James and Lou might happen to find themselves in, there could easily be danger lurking elsewhere in their home (in particular behind an upstairs closed door that leads to who knows where) and lighting designer Anna Watson makes the terrifying most of darkness, flickering lamps, and noirish shadows on the wall.

Sound designer Gareth Fry ups the thrills too with sudden bursts of ear-splitting scary music and noises that would seem to have no logical explanation, and the illusions Chris Fisher has created will have you not only emitting horrified gasps but wondering how on earth he achieved them.

Add to that Davis’s just-right costumes and Luke Hall’s video design (we first meet James’s mother via Facetime) and you’ve got a production design the the caliber of which can only be achieved on a stage as expansive as the Ahmanson’s. (In other words, don’t expect a blackbox Paranormal Activity any time soon, or ever.)

Casting is by Bob Mason. Caron Buinis, Caroline Hendricks, and Michael Holding are understudies.

Paranormal Activity is a co-production with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Shakespeare Theatre Company, and American Conservatory Theater and based on the Paranormal Activity films, first written and directed by Oren Peli and brought to the screen by Blumhouse and Solana Films. Technical supervision is by What If We Productions. Melanie J. Lisby is production stage manager.

I’ve reviewed thousands upon thousands of productions over the past eighteen years, but I can’t recall one that matches Paranormal Activity where scaring audiences is concerned.

If spine-tingling thrills and nail-biting suspense are your thing, or even if they’re not and you just want to see a darned good (and terrifically acted) play, there’s nothing like Paranormal Activity to keep you glued to the edge of your seat as you eagerly/warily anticipate each new turn of the screw.

Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N Grand Ave, Los Angeles.
www.CenterTheatreGroup.org

–Steven Stanley
November 14, 2025
Photos: Kyle Flubacker

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

Tags: Ahmanson Theatre, Center Theatre Group, Levi Holloway, Los Angeles Theater Review