Spooky stories aren’t just for movie theaters and battered paperbacks — Speakeasy Stage will open its new season this month with the Southern Gothic thriller “Covenant,” written by York Walker. When performer Johnny “Honeycomb” James returns to his rural Georgia home in the 1930s he’s famous, different and surrounded by swirling rumors. Old stories and secrets surface and soon no one knows what’s true.

This performance launches Dawn M. Simmons’ first season as artistic director of Speakeasy Stage, but she’s had it in mind for years.

“This speaks to this moment of resurgence of horror movies, but it’s got beautiful heart at the end of it. There’s a love story that’s happening in the midst of what turns out to be chaos,” said Simmons. “The story asks, ‘What would you do for love? Is it worth your soul?’”

The horror genre has opened fun stunts and special effects that are new to Simmons. But the genre isn’t new to Boston. Last season, American Repertory Theater produced Dave Malloy’s “Black Swan,” a stage interpretation of the 2010 film. “Paranomal Activity” ran at the Emerson Colonial Theater for nearly three weeks to packed audiences.

Simmons likens the show to the kind of societal horror seen in the 2025 Academy Award winning film “Sinners” and the 2025 film “Obsession.”

“There is something about the horror genre that is helping us process this,” she said. “Those moments of scariness are us sort of purging some of our own dread and existential angst. I love the idea of being able to do that in a theater for live performance.”

“Covenant” runs at Speakeasy Stage Sept. 25 through Oct. 17. Tickets start at $17.35 and paywhat-you-can tickets start at $15.

Crystin Gilmore, who plays the character Mama, is a self-described scaredy cat. But the story aligned with her own experience growing up in the religious South in a way that she couldn’t resist.

“What drew me in was the spiritual aspect because I’m from Tennessee, outskirts of Memphis. I’m a preacher’s child,” said Gilmore. “Especially when it came to the role of Mama, I know her. She is part of my aunt, part of my grandmother, part of my dad.”

Religion and restriction are intertwined in “Covenant”, and the story ultimately explores how we all have secrets and in many ways they tear us apart. Others often pay the price for what we withhold.

“It’s going to be a very deep production,” said Gilmore. “Come in with your hands open and your hearts wide and then see if there are fingers pointing back at you while you’re judging what you see on that stage.”

ON THE WEB

Learn more at speakeasystage.com/shows/2026/09/covenant