At seven Holthouse was violently raped by a family friend who was ten years older. The truth remained concealed until years later Holthouse's parents discovered the childhood journal he had kept. Holthouse ultimately went public with his story, which included a face-to-face meeting with his attacker decades later.
The play is created from the original story and subsequent news reports, as well as conversations with Holthouse, lectures he has given around the country and original text by the playwright, with additional writing by Santino Fontana, Shane Zeigler and Shane Stokes. Markus Potter directs.
The cast features Roderick Hill (Smart People, Unnatural Acts) as David Holthouse and Erik Heger (End of the Rainbow, Macbeth) as the Bogeyman, with Murphy Guyer (Glengarry Glen Ross) as Robert, Tony Award nominee Roxanne Hart (Passion) as Carol/Dr. Leavitt, Tony Award nominee John Herrera (The Mystery of Edwin Drood) as Russ and Kate Levy ("Blue Bloods") as Nancy.
The production has scenic design by David Goldstein, costume design by Tristan Raines, lighting design by Cory Pattak and sound design and original composition by Erik T. Lawson.
Stalking the Bogeyman had its world premiere at the NC Stage company in Asheville, NC, last fall. Here's how it's billed: "In the spring of 2003, David Holthouse was a successful, award-winning journalist. But no one knew that David had two dark secrets - first, that 25 years ago he was the victim of a violent rape, and second, that he was quietly planning the ultimate revenge on the man responsible. A story of transformation, healing and forgiveness of the highest order, Stalking the Bogeyman follows one man's quest for revenge as he comes to grips with the killer inside him."
The New York premiere production was produced by NewYorkRep, R. Erin Craig / La Vie Productions, Soumyo Sarkar and Wolfstone Productions; James Seiler & David Smith, Kathy Henderson, Amy Van Nostrand, Santa Barbara Holdings, Ian Kahn and Adam Richman are associate producers.