A clue to the latter sat just to the right of the door, a candlelit shrine to Lily Evergreen, with old photos of the young, pretty redheaded girl when she still had life. A guest list was printed alongside the memorial, including the names of Lily’s siblings: Art, Eddie and Eva, a woman named Parker Calloway, a few other friends and, prefaced by the words “NOT INVITED,” a man named Royce McCarthy who is Lily’s ex-boyfriend. More on that later.
The audience was then given a clip-on white flower and told to wear it during the service. They were handed out by people wearing clip-on purple flowers, who told us to follow the instructions of anyone else wearing a purple flower. If someone isn’t wearing a flower, don’t interact with them at all. You’ll understand why.
The front door opened. Behind it is Violet Dunn, the officiant for today’s memorial service informing us that she’s not quite finished setting up, but we’re welcome to enter and get comfortable before grieving.
We followed Violet’s lead and entered the room, even though all of these strangers know that Lily Evergreen never really existed, and this isn’t really a memorial service, and this woman’s name isn’t really Violet Dunn.
These strangers are all playing along in A Memorial Service For Lily Evergreen, an elaborately constructed immersive theater production in which viewers are flies on the wall as a dysfunctional group of family and friends attempt to honor the life of Lily. As you might expect, chaos does ensue, secrets are revealed, and this paying audience was treated to the last performance one of the most unique experiences money can buy.
This is all the madcap invention of director Jason Johnson-Spinos, who organized the show through Outcry Theatre, writing the script and directing the show with his wife, Becca, choreographing scenes. The company has youth shows slated for this spring, including A Wrinkle In Time and Seussical, each with Johnson-Spinos at the helm. On this night, the “stage” for his show was a quaint little room called the Stone Cottage Theater in Addison. Save for the stage lights installed in the ceiling, nothing about the Stone Cottage resembles a theater, perfect for the immersive experience.
Around 7:35 p.m., the middle of the room slowly became filled with four rows of chairs where the show’s cast would eventually sit for the service while the viewing audience watched from the borders of the room. A few of the cast were already inside the room. Just to the left of the entrance sat Parker Calloway (played by Rashae Boyd), who we soon learned was Lily’s bride-to-be. She thumbed through a memorial book of notes that people could leave to the deceased. Just outside the front door, siblings Eddie and Art Evergreen greeted each other. Art, who goes by they/them pronouns, did not look dressed for a funeral, and their behavior was even more inappropriate.
Mere seconds into the conversation, Art pulled out a small joint, lit it, and began to get high before their sister’s funeral.
“I am a professional, so of course I never got high before a show,” Trev Turnbow, who plays Art, tells me after the show. “After, however, who is to say? We smoked oregano joints and sometimes I’d go on to the next scene and be like ‘Hmm, that was just oregano, right?’”
Art’s other sister, Eva Evergreen (played by Stephanie Oustalet) arrived to the scene a few minutes later. Along with her family, she’s filled out the guest list with some of Lily’s other friends, Santiago Angel, Andrea Gabriel, Katherine Calloway and a journalist named Flip Ferguson. For the sake of time, we will refrain from commenting on the offensive stereotyping of journalist names.
This was a lot to keep up with already, but we shifted around the room to eavesdrop on as many conversations as we could. Soon, our attention was shifted. A woman in the parking lot outside paced back and forth, gazing up and down. It was Lily Evergreen, or at least what’s left of her soul. Within seconds, we can tell she’s a ghost, and that other characters weren’t able to see or interact with her.
“Those who catch a glimpse of me before the show seem a little confused,” says Ashley Tysor, who plays Lily. “I did think a lot about how they say after you die, you look back on moments of your life in third person. What does that feel like? And the urge to be part of a scene but not being able.”
Tysor is great at playing a ghost. For the next 10 minutes or so, she wandered between conversations, standing as close as a few inches away from the other characters as they remained oblivious to her presence.
“She still had to feel real enough to fit the world,” Tysor says. “Small detail, but I never went around an object that was small enough to step over. I don’t think ghosts care too much about the rules of sidewalks, curbs or gardens.”
Lily was particularly drawn to her sister Eva, who tried to manage the event with Violet and control the situation when, of course, Royce McCarthy shows up.
“People are weird,” Oustalet says. “Every day I’m learning to navigate just how weird they can be. That’s what makes immersive theater so incredible, the realistic intimacy and improvisation that mirror real life.”
Andy Gonzalez-Bendiksen as Santiago Angel and Stephanie Oustalet as Eva Evergreen sharing a conversation.
Courtesy of Outcry Theatre
At 8 p.m., Violet told us to find a seat for the service. One of Lily’s friends, Andrea, went up first, followed by Art, who explained that they’re opting to manifest their grief through an interpretive dance rather than a speech.
“Art wasn’t even originally meant to speak during the memorial service,” Turnbow says. “Once I decided that Art was a multimedia performance artist, I pitched to Jason and company the possibility of Art honoring Lily in a nontraditional way. He then just gave me a few weeks to put something together.”
The rehearsal paid off. For the first time in the entire experience, the seated audience around the outskirts of the room reacted more dramatically than the actors.
“I pretty much just tried to do the most visually bizarre thing I could imagine,” Turnbow says, adding that they took inspiration from Dante’s Inferno. “Audience reception was usually just continuous surprises. I always loved hearing gasps when I puked the chocolate sauce up.”
Art later did a handstand, inexplicably, which was received with laughs at first, until the length of time and position became genuinely impressive.
“One older couple told me I was ‘very athletic’ after the show,” Turnbow says. “I don’t think I intended to become the comic relief for the show, but when put into situations doing improv scenes around such a serious subject, I naturally wanted to make the people in the room laugh.”
The performance concluded with some scattered cheers, snaps and “what-the-hell-was-that” murmurs.
“With all the crazy the other characters brought, it felt right to lean into being a steady hand,” says Shenelle Peart, who played Violet. “Also I found it more fun to react to the spectacle rather than to be the spectacle.”
Rashae Boyd as Parker Calloway (left), Shenelle Peart as Violet Dunn (middle) and Ryan Maffei as Flip Ferguson (right).
Courtesy of Outcry Theatre
During the flower ceremony, more than a few people seemed somber. A Memorial Service For Lily Evergreen isn’t a whodunnit, but rather a fantastical, maximalist experiment with a genuine emotional pulse. The show we attended was the last of its limited run, but we hope they’ll bring the show back so we can experience the night all over again in a wholly different way.
“The audience creates their own personal versions of Lily throughout the show,” Tysor says. “They often show me or tell me what that meant to them as they leave their flowers. I’ll miss hearing everyone’s interpretations, and the quiet joy of being the only person to know the truth. Luckily, that will never change and I’ll keep those secrets of her’s very safe, forever.”
