Just in time for October, a ghost story at Lincoln's Wyuka Stables

When Emily Funkey was deciding what script to tackle for her directorial debut with the Flatwater Shakespeare Company, one particular play caught her eye — and it wasn't even Shakespeare.

It was Jeffrey Hatcher's stage adaptation of "The Turn of the Screw," Henry James' 1898 gothic horror novella that follows an English governess whose young charges are haunted by ghosts of past servants in a remote estate.

Funkey was struck, in part, by the author's note to the script, in which Hatcher explains he wanted to create a dramatic piece true to the essence of James' story, which has sparked numerous critical interpretations since it was first serialized in Collier's Weekly in 1898.

And, more simply, Funkey wanted something scary.

"We talked about a really wide range of shows that would be cool or fun to do at Wyuka, which is the cemetery where we perform most of our shows, and we kind of ended on discussions about doing something kind of scary and really playing into the cemetery vibe," Funkey said.

With Halloween just two weeks away, "The Turn of the Screw" will mark the end of Flatwater Shakespeare Company's 2024 season when it opens for an eight-show run on Thursday at the Wyuka Stables.

Funkey, a Lincoln native who grew up in Hastings, is not new to directing, having overseen children's productions while she studied theater at Hastings College.

After college, she moved to Lincoln and got involved with the Flatwater Shakespeare Company through a family friend, getting cast in a "Romeo and Juliet" production that closed the day it was supposed to open because of COVID. That cast, Funkey included, later came back for a staging of "Twelfth Night."

Then, at the end of last season, Funkey mentioned to Marshall Carby, then the company's executive director, that she would be interested in directing her own show, possibly in 2025. Carby suggested she do one sooner — as in this year — and not necessarily Shakespeare, since Flatwater typically tries to do one non-Shakespeare production a season.

Even so, "The Turn of the Screw," a classic of late 19th century literature, feels very much Shakespearean, Funkey said.

"I just feel it pulls on so many of the same kind of things and literary devices that Shakespeare uses and that makes Shakespeare shows really interesting and enthralling and iconic after all this time," Funkey said. "We've seen so many kinds of takes on this story or stories that have been influenced by Henry James' original novella."

Hatcher's adaptation is relatively modest: It involves just two actors — one who plays the governess (Francoise Traxler) and another who switches between all the other characters (William Phillips). Just as in the novella, the play is a story within a story, beginning with a man regaling partygoers with the ghost tale at the center of the play.

"It really becomes deep in this woman's diary, where we are kind of following her along as she's experiencing losing herself in the horror of all of this," Funkey said. "I think that is something that this adaptation captures very well, kind of the dissolving of one's ability to trust what they are seeing, and I think that's what really struck me about this script in particular."

Funkey said she tried to go for an old house seance aesthetic with lots of candles and flowing fabrics. That effect is also achieved simply by where the play is staged.

"There's something about Wyuka, even in the summer when we are performing a Shakespeare comedy, that is really magical. The idea of putting something there that really utilizes this kind of eerie, old, historic vibe that Wyuka has, I thought that was brilliant," Funkey said. "We want to thrill them. We want to make them look into the dark and just wonder what's in there?"

IF YOU GO

What: "The Turn of the Screw."

Where: Wyuka Stables, 3600 O St.

When:

Tickets: $20 for adults, $18 for seniors 65 and older, $16 for students and $5 for kids 10 and under. Purchase at flatwatershakespearecompany.org or at the door. Tickets are general admission.