MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE -- In writing the play, Gomolvilas said he was keen to explore themes that long occupied his imagination. The first of two children born to a waitress mother and lab technician father (who also worked as a bartender), the 46-year-old playwright has been fascinated with horror and storytelling since childhood. One of the first movies he ever saw was The Amityville Horror, released in 1979.
“I don’t know why or how a 6- or 7-year-old ended up in that theater but it scared the hell out of me,” he said.
Then again, the movie inspired a lifelong obsession with the supernatural, something Gomolvilas studied at San Francisco State University, where he earned undergraduate and Master of Fine Arts degrees. “My past plays have dealt with alien abduction, spontaneous combustion, UFOs and now ghosts,” Gomolvilas said.