A Truly Haunting Performance

Who says Valley theater is dead?

The Los Angeles Art Theater, a relatively new Equity-waiver house in North Hollywood, is finding that it can fill enough seats to stay alive--in a building that used to be a funeral parlor.

Plays are staged in what was the family chapel and viewing room. The audience sits where grieving relatives once did, which could lead to all sorts of comments about the drama being offered on stage. And, until recently, the theater company’s library smelled faintly of embalming fluid.

“You would think this place would feel very negative,” said Ted Haler, the theater’s artistic director. “But there is a very positive energy to it.”

There is also, if you believe Haler and his resident actors, a ghost residing on the premises.

Not just any ghost. The ghost of comedian Lou Costello.

“We’ve heard noises. He has turned lights on that were off,” Haler said. “When he’s in the room, the temperature drops 15 degrees. The hair on your arms stands up.”

“It’s not a joke,” said Darryl Shelly, the company’s dramaturge. “It’s serious.”

Dead serious.

Costello was living in Van Nuys before his death in 1959. He was prepared at Steen’s Mortuary, which several years ago became the Mise en Scene Theater, which last year gave way to the Los Angeles Art Theater. It is one of a number of small theaters along Magnolia Boulevard, which amounts to North Hollywood’s version of Broadway.

Costello made his ghostly presence known--in the minds of the company--during a recent play. One of the actresses looked into the audience and saw Costello sitting in a previously empty seat. By play’s end, he was gone.

Just three months ago he reportedly appeared in different form at an acting workshop.

“I was sitting in the audience watching some other actors work,” said Shannon Hile, a member of the company. “I turned to my left and in the doorway . . . God, how do I explain this? . . . it was an oval-shaped apparition and it had a green tint to it. You could feel it, an energy type of feel. Then it faded away.”

Company members, who have just opened a new play, “The Feminists,” say they have grown accustomed to their poltergeist and his bumps and bangs in the night. They list Costello in the play’s credits under the title “Special Effects.” There are no plans for an exorcism.

“It kind of scares you when he’s around,” Hile said, “but it’s kind of neat.”