Atlanta Theater Artists Set Ghost Story To Music With ‘Vivian’

“She is this wonderful spirit who is trying to hold her whole family together with her positivity,” Jessica De Maria says about the title character in “Vivian,” a musical ghost story she created with Chase Peacock.

Casey Gardener Photography

Musical theater isn’t generally known for delivering frights, but two Atlanta theater artists are taking on the challenge.

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Chase Peacock and Jessica De Maria are part of the creative team behind the Atlanta Musical Theatre Festival, and the two have a new original show opening next week. It’s called “Vivian,” and it is a musical ghost story.

The story concerns a young doctor whose wife has died.

Chase Peacock is part of the creative team behind the Atlanta Musical Theatre Festival. He and Jessica De Maria have a new original show, “Vivian,” opening next week. Credit: Casey Gardener Photography

“He’s having trouble coping, and so are his daughters. So he moves them as far away from their old life as he can,” De Maria says. They move to a fixer-upper in rural California to try to start again.

“The house has a rich history, and there is a lingering spirit in there.”

The titular Vivian is actually the doctor’s youngest daughter, who is 9.

“She is this wonderful spirit who is trying to hold her whole family together with her positivity,” De Maria says. “We see that challenged and shaken by what they’re faced with.”

“Vivian,” a musical ghost story, opens Oct. 11 at the Lyric Studio Theatre in Marietta and runs through Oct. 14.