In 1998, I wrote and directed a collection of horror-themed vignettes and called them "Thriller Theater." This first installment featured about five stories that I created, with Charna Halpern chipping in with a piece that she wrote and directed. It was a fun show with some truly spooky/creepy segments. The improv game worked very well, though I felt that the show went a bit long. We got a nice review in the Chicago Reader which I cannot seem to find at the moment. When I do, I will post it.

I had such a good time doing that show, and the response was so terrific, that the very next year saw the coming of Thriller Theater 2: The Mystery of the Curse of the Haunting of the Phantom of the Park. This show was another collection of vignettes, with a wraparound story that teamed up the world's greatest kid detectives. Inspired by the wonderful Neil Simon film, "Murder by Death," this show teamed up the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Brown, and the cast of Scooby-Doo. They all teamed up and got mismatched and solved the crime. The vignettes were alright, but the improv game was disastrous.

In 2000, we had Thriller Theater Three: Butcher, Baker, Vampire Slayer. This one seemed almost a gimme- the original Scooby gang teaming up with the modern "Scooby gang." I had a separate page for TT3. Here's the link and here are some pics:

					The Scooby Gang from Thriller Theater Three was (l. to r.) Marc Ovies, Geoff Reed, Piero Procaccini, Brandi Kleinert, and Caitlin Blackwell. They were terrific. Ironically, Geoff, who was simply wonderful as Scooby was the third Scooby for this show alone.
	There's the Buffy gang. From right to left there's Paul O'Toole as Xander, Dina Connelly as Willow, and Elizabeth McNaughton as Buffy herself. That's either Erica Reid or Eric Purkis as a Vampire. The very first show that Elizabeth saw at ImprovOlympic was Thriller Theater 2 and she joined the Training Center after it. A year later she auditioned, and got in! She was fantastic.
		Thriller Theater Three was supposed to be the last of the series, but I was drawn back in. Piero and Geoff produced the show and reprised their roles. That took a giant burden off my shoulders and TT was back in business. 2001 saw Thriller Theater Four: Scooby-Doo Learns Meets The Facts of Life. Yes, the meddling kids of Mystery, Inc. ended up at the Eastland Academy for Girls. Turns out Blair Warner and Daphne Maxwell are old friends. They arrive just in time too- turns out there's some kinda Headless Headmaster wandering around the campus! Photos coming soon!