University Wits presents horror drama "The Sixth Guest" at Dog Story Theater

Playwright and director Kyle Walker, whose play The Sixth Guest opens this Friday at Dog Story Theater, wants to scare you.

“I think I want the audiences to be frightened,” says Walker, who describes his show as “a psychological horror thriller.”

"The Sixth Guest is the story of five friends at a dinner party," he says. "During the party, one of the guests is found dead. Suspicions begin to rise when the other guests start to feel another presence in the room…These evil spirits start taking over each guest and turning them against each other.”

The horror genre is usually used as more of an allegory. Really the core story of the play is the relationship between the two main characters who are sisters, Fannie and Carmen, says Walker.

“[The play is about] the overarching control that everyone has in their life, whether it's from some outward presence or something within themselves," he says.

Walker wanted to do something different by bringing a true horror-thriller to the stage.

“I've never really seen a horror story on stage. [I’ve seen] things that are creepy," he says. "But never anything that really frightened me. That's definitely a big thing. I want to scare some people.”

Though he describes The Sixth Guest as “very intense,” Walker has kept the show short.

“There’s no intermission,” says Walker. “It’ll run probably an hour, maybe a little over.”

When anticipating audience response, Walker hopes audiences will get taken on a ride, and afterward try to figure out what happened.

“That's kind of the goal,” says Walker. “if I can have my audience talk about my play afterwards – in a good light – then I think I've done well.”

The Sixth Guest premieres on Friday, April 17 at 8 p.m. and runs for two weekends. Tickets are $14 for general admission, $8 for students and seniors, and can be bought on the Dog Story website or at the door.