Mystery House

I’m always drawn to ghost stories because they have so much potential for metaphor. This artist wove three stories together without feeling disjointed, all related by questions of grief, public perception, and women’s inner lives. You can tell that she’s a writer by trade; there are some beautiful lines in here and she does a great job of maintaining pacing and flow in the stories. There’s not always a lot to look at on stage, but the performer’s storytelling and effusiveness kept my attention throughout even after being on site for almost 12 hours without caffeine.

I’ve seen a loooot of autobiographical storytelling shows in my time. Autobiographical stories, especially those that involve trauma, can be tricky since retelling your own life, which was real and painful to you, doesn’t always translate into emotional responses from an audience of strangers. However, in this case the quality of the writing took a story that is familiar to many of us and made it feel moving and insightful.

All that being said, I almost wonder what this show would be like with a bit more work put into the lighting and sound. I will definitely be sure to watch out for this artist’s work in the future.

A story of grief, ghosts, and not-so-mad madwomen.

Fans of the paranormal and misunderstood gather close! Wendy Weiner’s Mystery House is a story of puzzling phenomena and deceptions, and the truth behind two of history’s more peculiar women. Though a little slow in the beginning, Weiner quickly captures the audience’s attention by drawing connections between Mrs. Winchester’s past and her own. The lighting in between each beat also helps in solidifying the tone of each scene, and makes some surprises far clearer. Weiner’s energy brilliantly illustrates every scene of her story and brings light to some of our past’s most misunderstood madwomen. Any fan of unsolved mysteries and finding truth in tall tales will find much to sink their teeth into.

Straight off the hop I have to say that as a storyteller, Wendy's delivery overall was excellent.

The show wasn't exactly what I expected when we took a detour into the world of Wendy not getting the writing jobs she wanted and into some Abraham Lincoln history. I think a stronger connection between the guns used during the civil war being the same guns Sarah (Sally) Winchester's husband made could have helped bridge that connection as Lincoln is a tool Wendy uses to connect the Mystery House to her own story of grief. While I understand the underlying connection she's trying to make about societal labels on women and expectations, the connecting threads at times could have been a little stronger.

I think some of the points Wendy has to make about grief are incredibly poignant, especially her point about how angry it made her to see social media posts after her father died. I strongly resonated with that as it's exactly how I felt after my own father died - that watching the world go on as if this huge thing hadn't just happened in my life made me angry.

I loved everything talked about in the show, I just felt sometimes like I was getting 3 shows for the price of 1 and that any of the key points she was making might have been even stronger if we were exploring those points one show at a time.

Where my biggest disappointment lies I guess is that I was expecting a show about the woman behind the legend, and feeling like Sarah's "a-ha" and "more than the lore" moment was more footnote than grand finale. I also could have done without Mary Todd as that felt like it came out of nowhere and I'm not sure if it added to the overall show. However, I'd love to see a separate stand alone show about Mary Todd, played by Wendy.

Overall I really liked the show and would recommend people see it - just keep an open mind and recognize that in exploring the larger themes you may not get to explore Sarah in as much detail as you'd hoped.

Thoughtful play weaving Historical events and personal events as a well told meaningful story. Wendy presented well.