Theater Online - New York Theater Reviews

Michael Bernstein ©2025  Harrison Unger

Just in time for the Halloween season, Ugly Rhino presents its newest experiential play Warehouse of Horrors: Gowanus ’73. The Brooklyn Lyceum is transformed into a 1973 underground party venue run by the mob, and audiences are assigned to a spirit guide who leads a group through the events of a fateful night in 1973 that ends in gruesome murder. Although all characters and incidents are fictional, the piece itself is inspired by the dark history of the Gowanus area during the 60s and 70s.

In a heavily expositive narrative that could be re-titled “Backstory 1973,” the scenes of a blackmail scheme gone awry jumble into place as the audience is divided into groups and led from room to room by the ghost of a victim of the violent history of Bath 7. The Brooklyn Lyceum IS Bath 7, an underground den of illegal activities, drugs, and young partiers, run by boss Dominic (Michael Bernstein) with the assistance of his nephew Nick (Harrison Unger). Nick’s mother Gina (Lauren Roth) is the Madam of the upstairs brothel who wants to protect her girls (Brittany Parker and Anna Perczak) and protect her son. Unfortunately, Nick has paired with crooked cop C.C. (Jaime Lamchick) to turn a blackmail scheme into an ill-executed ransom. There is a new drug on the scene that turns people into mindless zombies for 6 -8 hours, but this isn’t enough after witnesses learn too much about Nick’s crimes. The production also features Jennifer McVey as Janet, the ransom victim, Kaitlin Lawrence as Janet’s curious friend, and Denise Dumper, Cori Hundt, Lia Tamborra, and Jodi Savitz as the ghostly guides.

Michael Bernstein ©2025  Jennifer McVey

Basically Warehouse of Horrors is like a more structured but less exciting Sleep No More, but riffing off SVU instead Shakespeare and giving out the drinks for free.

Warehouse of Horrorsdraws on Ugly Rhino’s history of combining parties and performance, with each audience member being treated as a guest at Bath 7. The production pumps music into the space at key moments, stops for social breaks, and provides three signature cocktails throughout the evening. The attempts fall short, however, because although the premise implies that audiences are peeking “behind the scenes” at a fateful party, there is little festive about the evening besides the very nice bartenders and the booze they churn out to the noncommittal crowd.

In short, this is a spectacular idea that is not fully realized in execution. The movement between spaces creates long lag times between scenes, the event doesn’t feel at all like a party, and by the end the audience is simply muddling through to the predictable finale. Less than half the time the audience spends in the space involves actually engaging the story, and thus viewers don’t get enough information or time to become invested in these characters. The two things this horror party lacks are horror and party, and not even the three free drinks can change that.

Ugly Rhino is obviously an ambitious and creative organization, and Warehouse of Horrors is an inventive and exciting idea. I look forward to the next Ugly Rhino production which I imagine will be more successful.

UglyRhino’s Warehouse of Horrors: Gowanus ‘73 plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm through November 1 as well as Wednesday, October 31^st and Thursday, November 1^st at 8 PM at The Brooklyn Lyceum, 227 4^th Avenue at Union Street. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased in advance at www.uglyrhinonyc.com. All ticket include 3 free curated cocktails.