Though early in their careers, Sophia Anne Caruso and Millicent Simmonds are already familiar names to film and theater fans. Caruso, who last starred on Broadway in the musical adaptation of Tim Burton’s hit film Beetlejuice, has also won praise in straight plays such as Blackbird and The Nether, and for her appearance in last year’s fantasy film on Netflix, The School for Good and Evil. Simmonds, who is deaf, followed up her breakthrough performance in the 2017 movie Wonderstruck with acclaimed turns in the horror films A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II.
Levi Holloway’s Grey House, set to begin previews April 29 and open May 30 at the Lyceum Theatre, will bring the two together for the first time, and marks Simmonds’s Broadway debut. Caruso and Simmonds respectively play Marlow and Bernie, two of several children in the home.
Leading the cast is two-time Tony Award-winning stage and screen veteran Laurie Metcalf; Two-time Tony Award winner Joe Mantello, another prolific veteran perhaps best known for Wicked and The Humans, directs the production. After a car crash, a couple, played by “Orphan Black” star Tatiana Maslany and “House of Cards” alum Paul Sparks, finds themselves knocking at the door of the house.
Grey House might be characterized as a horror play. But as both actresses point out, the show digs deeper than that label might suggest.
“It’s very layered, very complex,” says Simmonds, speaking through an American Sign Language interpreter. “There are a lot of clues embedded in the play, complex relationships between the characters; the house itself is a character. The story looks at dynamics within a family and asks, What is a maternal figure? What does being a mother mean?”
Caruso, who describes the play as a “psychological thriller,” agrees. “The topic of Mama is very heavy here, and there are different examples of motherhood… I think there’s a lot left to interpretation. Every time I reread it, or every time I’m working through something, I have a completely new take on a scene, or the play as a whole.”
For Simmonds, working in such company can seem surreal, even as it marks a sort of return to her roots. “I grew up doing plays and theater,” she notes. “I did tours in Utah, Shakespeare roles, but with a small troupe. I never thought it could be my profession.” After wrapping A Quiet Place Part II, though, “I just had this feeling: I want to do Broadway. I reached out to my agent and said, ‘If any plays come up, please think of me.’ And a few days later, Joe Mantello reached out with Grey House, and I read the script and loved it.’
Caruso had previously worked with Mantello in her own Broadway debut, 2016’s Blackbird. “I really think he is just Broadway’s best,” she enthuses. “I love his attention to detail; he’s very precise, very specific. And he’s an actor as well, and a wonderful person. Hopefully I’ll work with him 100 times, if I’m lucky.”
Simmonds admits she had been unfamiliar with Mantello’s work before signing on to Grey House. “Then I did research, and quickly found out that he is the director in this industry, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, what have I said yes to?’” A few Zoom calls with Mantello quickly put her at ease. “He said, ‘Listen, this is going to be the first time I’ll be working with a deaf actor, so I’m just going to come to you with an open mind and an open heart and look forward to learning.’”
Simmonds has found her fellow cast members similarly generous. “They started learning sign language before I even came into the [rehearsal] room,” she says. “It was really exciting to be greeted that way, so that I could talk to them without an interpreter being present. My experience with the whole ensemble has been awesome.”
Caruso’s experience has clearly been just as positive. “I mean, Laurie Metcalf! She’s one of my favorite actresses,” she says. “I feel like I’m learning just by observing every actor in the room — including the child actors, the youngest girls in the cast, who blow my mind every day. I’m sure Millie understands this: I was a kid in the industry, and I know you have to get to rehearsal three hours earlier to start schoolwork, then put in a full day of rehearsal, then do more schoolwork after that, and then go home and practice everything. So I have a lot of respect for everyone in this company.”
When asked to describe their characters in Grey House, Caruso uses animal metaphors, calling Marlow “a bird of prey” and “a sphinx cat in her aura,” while Simmonds says, “Bernie is very watchful, very observant. She’s deaf, so it’s interesting to see her find ways to communicate with different people in the house, to find different languages.”
As for how they’re expecting audiences to respond to the play overall, Simmonds quips with a playful smile, “I hope the audience experiences something they’ve never felt in a Broadway play. I hope it chills them to the bone—but again, it is a very complicated story. All these questions come up in the show.” Caruso agrees: “You’ll still be figuring it out when you leave.”