Review Fix chats with Emily and Raymond Ulibarri about the new season of their production, I Haunt You.”
About the Production:
Arkansas’ critically acclaimed gothic romance has its sights set on NY
Melonlight Productions, the arts organization of the Melonlight Ballroom in downtown Eureka Springs, Arkansas, has been presenting theatre and dance-oriented pieces at its spacious theatre-in-the-round for years. Their flagship production, I Haunt You, has been a crowd pleaser for two full seasons, but lately that crowd is growing – and from other areas.
“I’m thrilled – even a bit shocked,” says Emily Ulibarri, Co-Founder of MELONLIGHT BALLROOM and one of the two stars of I Haunt You, “praise is rolling in – from other states and even counties,” she exclaimed. “we’ve been presenting quality works for over a decade,” Raymond Ulibarri, her partner in life and art chimed in, “but there’s something special about I Haunt You.”
I Haunt You is a gothic love story that spans a century. It is the story of three couples (all played by the Ulibarris) embroiled in erotic – and frightening – situations. One might surmise these are intertwined as two lovers reincarnated over and over until their business is finished; maybe these are parables of how much things change and yet stay the same, but in all suppositions, this comical, frightening, and romantic series of one-acts immerse their audience in gorgeous costuming, skillful acting, and mesmerizing movement.
With another season of performances at the ready, the Ulibarris have their sights set on bringing this production to New York.
“We are actively in development to transport the production off-Broadway – as early as late 2023,” Emily purports; “this is more feasible than we thought as we crunched the numbers and realized how inexpensive it will be for us to do so,” Raymond continued. The show was initially designed for an intimate setting with intentionally limited seating and accessible production values making it an easy production in their home theatre and – now they discover – an easy move to more visible venues.
The third season of I Haunt You will be playing at the Melonlight Ballroom, 2 Pine St, Eureka Springs, AR. All shows begin at 7pm, doors open at 6:30pm, September 2 – October 28.
More info and tickets at: https://www.melonlight.com/i-haunt-you
Review Fix: What was your inspiration behind this project?
Emily Ulibarri: I Haunt You was always meant to be a duet for my husband and I, in fact that was its original working title – Duet. It was a professional goal, a passionate one, for my husband and I to write and produce a piece for just the two of us, to challenge ourselves and prove to ourselves that we could hold the stage with incredible energy and captivation, just us – and thus, the creation and production process itself was a love story, our love story. The project finally found its name, I Haunt You, and it evolved into a full length, spooky, romantic, and suspenseful stage show. The love stories of I Haunt You are much darker and much more tragic than our own love story (thank goodness!) I like to write tragedy and suspense, but I wouldn’t want to live out one of our stories. But we love a good ghost story; we love the suspense, nuance, and freedom that can come with creating within the supernatural genre.
Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?
Emily Ulibarri: Oh so fun! My favorite space to be in mind, especially in the beginning stages when characters and concepts are just coming into sight and sound. My husband and I will often set a very broad theme or concept, like for our show Silence in the Jungle, it was “pregnant in the jungle” – now write! I typically start “hearing voices”, like hearing the voice of the characters, literally the words of their dialogue right away. In fact, I find that if I can’t hear a character’s voice, like what they sound like and how they speak, I can’t write that character. It’s a very auditory process for me. That is usually happening simultaneously with creation of the overall story arc and outline. As soon as there is enough script written, my husband starts cutting the soundscape (all the music and background sound effects that are played through the entire show). He’s also the primary director. I think of him as the visionary. I hear all the things, and he sees them. He brings the script to beautiful, tangible reality on the stage. And then the things just start compounding from there, the process speeds up immensely with rehearsals, marketing, lighting and tech all coming together simultaneously. It’s such a whirlwind. I love it! But I also love the slower more introspective space when the story is just coming into being from thought to thing. Writing and conceptualizing the script is like waiting in line for the rollercoaster. Once the script is done, we’re on the coaster, there’s no stopping!
Review Fix: What did you learn/are learning about yourself through this process/production?
Raymond Ulibarri: We’re always learning through the process, and really in two distinct areas (at least two). The first being the professional skill set, learning to write, produce, act, execute all the things with more vision, clarity and efficiency. But the second layer of learning is much more connected to the soul, to the higher self, it’s the lessons the characters are learning. Our productions are extremely intimate, meaning I’m writing, exploring, and examining the philosophies that my soul is in need of learning. The creative process is a healing one. Oftentimes, I start writing a script and it’s not til I’m done or half done, that I’m like “oh shit, I see, that’s like a metaphor for what I’m going through in this other area of my life, got it, noted universe, thank you.” I’m definitely not writing autobiographies, but the spiritual lessons laced into my scripts are definitely the things my soul is pining after. Stories always teach us lessons, even the ones we write ourselves. It’s like the wiser me writing to the not so wise me.
Review Fix: What are your ultimate goals for this for the future?
Emily Ulibarri: Honestly, I want to do exactly what we’re doing for bigger audiences. My husband and I have created a strong voice as theater makers over the past twenty years; we’ve established our own venue so we can produce our own work and sell our own tickets. We connect intimately with our audiences, and they authentically love our work. I want to keep doing that…in new cities, cities like New York, Chicago, Vegas, dare I say London? Yes, I dare. Oh and we want to do that with themed cocktails for our guests; we don’t have cocktails at our venue, yet.
Review Fix: What’s next?
Raymond Ulibarri: We’re working on bringing I Haunt You to New York. We’re super ready for the expansion and the new experience. I think our show Silence in the Jungle could do really well in a new city also. And I can’t stop the writer in me. I’m working on a new script right now. It’s sexy and sensual in nature with some burlesque inspiration, it’s clever and funny, it will bring a little more dance back onto the stage for us (the dance floor being our original stomping ground). Oh and it’s the devil’s story. There’s always a dark side in our shows
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