The Skriker: Plays, Films, and Other Forms of Media: Or How Do we Explore Social Constructs in What We Know as the Horror Genre

For my senior project, I acted in the role of the Skriker in a stand-alone production of The Skriker written by Caryl Churchill, directed by Kelsi Ford, with Melina Finck, and sound designed by Liam Connors. The Skriker is a fairy who shapeshifts into various beings while pursuing, befriending, seducing, entrapping, and manipulating Lily and Josie, two teenage mothers. The Skriker speaks in a language of broken, fragmented unusual, nonsensical words. The, play blends naturalism, horror, and magical realism to tell a story of love, greed, humans, loss, and revenge. The Skriker is a commentary on human nature. What do we do to each other? What do we let get done to us? How do we interact with others, ourselves, and our environment around us? These are all questions my team and I asked as we approached this text. With a mixture of villainous, revenge-driven actions and pure intentions, the Skriker is a complex character that I was so honored to play.