Bloody Aftermath

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courtesy Broom Street Theater

A person and wall splashed with red.

Kyla Vaughn in "Bloody Aftermath," Broom Street Theater, 2025.

Playwright Rob Matsushita has never shied away from tackling themes of violence in his plays. But the latest of his offerings produced by Broom Street Theater, Bloody Aftermath, is described as a comedy/drama anthology; the title refers to a fictional horror film franchise which is the touchstone for the play’s segments, which take place over several decades. Hear Matsushita and director Jessica Jane Witham discuss the play on WORT-FM’s 8 O’Clock Buzz from April 14. Performances at 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday (except 2 p.m. on May 3) and 2 p.m. Sunday, plus 2 p.m. on April 26.

media release: Broom Street Theater is proud to present Bloody Aftermath, the new play by Rob Matsushita, running April 18 through May 3.

Bloody Aftermath is not a scary horror show, but a comedy/drama anthology about being a horror fan. A series of short scenes, all set in different years, that all revolve around a decades-old slasher movie franchise, touching on topics like body image, the sexual politics of horror, racist Halloween decisions, high school plays, and what the afterlife is like in a horror movie.

Bloody Aftermath will be Matsushita's lucky 13th play he's written for Broom Street in the past 27 years. 

He says, “I’ve always been a fan of horror movies, particularly slasher films. Around the time I was doing the 28 Plays Later challenge, I was listening to the podcast In Voorhees We Trust, which is all about the Friday The 13th movies. I started watching them all over again, and realized that those films have meant different things to different people, for different reasons. One of my biggest influences as a playwright is A.R. Gurney’s The Dining Room, which is all different stories, all set in a dining room. I thought it would be interesting to try something similar".

Rob's previous Broom Street show Prom, used a similar format, with scenes all built around a single high school prom.

Jessica Jane Witham directs a stellar cast, including Liz Angle, Heather Klinke, Hawa Bah, Emily Ruzicka, Kyla Vaughn, Stephanie Albrecht, Anthony Cary, Anthony Leonard, Steve Wyeth, Patrick O'Hara, Matt Reines, and Sean Lagenecker.

Tickets: All shows at Broom Street Theater have pay-what-you-can tickets available at the box office on the day of the show. A small number of tickets are available for advance reservations at our eventbrite page, but if the eventbrite website says we are sold out, rest assured that there are walk-up tickets available.

We will also have a livestream event, to watch the show online. Tickets for the livestream event are seperately available from the eventbrite link.