Meet the Cast
Julia Elstun Payne has performed in and coordinated the talent for Victorian Horrors since its first season thirty years ago. She served for three years as Artistic Director for Christian Youth Theatre, worked on staff in the Education Department at the Arvada Center for six years, and has taught theatre, directed and performed throughout the Metro area. You may also have seen her in commercials and industrial videos. Julia and her husband, David Payne, are slated to direct A Year with Frog and Toad at the Arvada Center in early 2023.
David Payne has appeared in almost every year of Victorian Horrors’ long run beginning with reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula. He has served as director, producer, actor, playwright, and teacher throughout the region since 1980. His work has spanned the Arvada Center, Town Hall Arts Center, Colorado Renaissance Festival, PHAMALy, and The Aurora Fox. He was the theatre instructor at the Logan School for Creative Learning for twenty-five years, technical director for Community College of Aurora, Mizel Arts and Culture Center, a theatre teacher at Grandview High School, and currently the Technical Director for Lakewood High School. With his wife, Julie Payne, he will be co-directing the Arvada Center’s production of A Year with Frog and Toad at the Arvada Center in early 2023.
Jim Hunt has worked in Denver-area theatre for over fifty years. Recent roles include Mr. Oldfield in The Minutes (Curious Theatre Company), Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (Miners Alley Playhouse), Nina in The Nina Variations (Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company—BETC), John in For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday (Aurora Fox Arts Center), the Stage Manager in Our Town (Miners Alley Playhouse), Homer/Simon in The Rembrandt (BETC), and Joe in Going To A Place Where You Already Are (BETC). Jim has haunted the Molly Brown House at Halloween for thirty years and is one of the co-founders of Victorian Horrors.
Rick Long has been seen on stages all over the United States and Europe, with this marking his debut at Victorian Horrors. Earning an MFA in Theater from UW-Milwaukee, Rick has appeared with Arvada Center, THAC, Vintage Theater, Stage One, The Arizona Theatre Company, the Monomoy Theatre on Cape Cod, and appeared as a Guest Artist at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival and the Tony Award winning Utah Shakespearean Festival. Nominated in 2022 as Best Supporting Actor for a Henry Award, Rick is also an accomplished director, playwright, and internationally exhibited watercolor artist. Rick is thrilled to be back home, where he is currently an adjunct Lecturer in Acting at Colorado University in Boulder.
John Wittbrodt is thrilled to be back for another year of Victorian Horrors at the Molly Brown House. John is a local actor and musician who has been active in and around Denver since graduating from CU Boulder in 2016. He loves coming back each fall to share Edgar Allan Poe’s weird and whimsical work in the treasured time capsule of the Molly Brown House. Should you run into him after the show or elsewhere, he loves pepperoni pizza.
Trina Magness has been haunting the Molly Brown house since the late 1990’s. She began by playing Mary Shelley, reading from Frankenstein. Notable Roles in Denver Theatre: The Intoxicator/Dale Clark, SPIRITS TO ENFORCE; Gertrude Fail, FAILURE: A LOVE STORY (Best of Westword, Best Supporting Actress in a Drama); First Witch, MACBETH (Denver Post Ovation Winner for Best Ensemble). Trina is a full time drama teacher at Ranch View Middle School.
Antigone Biddle is thrilled to return to the Molly Brown House after recently performing in Titanic Memories. Born and raised in Colorado, she has been seen in regional productions all over the state and most recently overseas. Antigone also works as a teaching artist at Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Credits: Charlotte’s Web (Arvada Center); Eigg the Musical, Original Cast, (Edinburgh Fringe Festival); Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (Parker Arts); Newsies (Town Hall Arts Center); Gypsy (Vintage Theatre). Training: The American Musical and Dramatic Academy.
Casey Andree is delighted to return to Victorian Horrors! He has acted around the Denver theatre community for a decade, including four seasons at Colorado Shakespeare Festival, many shows with BETC, and credits with Miners Alley, Town Hall Arts Center, and Cherry Creek Theatre, among others. He loves horror fiction and builds online learning experiences after a decade as a math educator in Denver Public Schools.
Celebrate the 30th Year of Victorian Horrors!
Victorian Horrors is back for its 30th year tickets are available here! Celebrate three decades of Victorian Horrors with terrifying tales written by well-known but long-gone authors theatrically portrayed by acclaimed local actors. Experience these theatric readings throughout areas of the historic home on October 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, and 28! Admission times every 15 minutes from 6 PM to 9 PM. for General Admission Tickets – $30, Historic Denver Members – $25. Purchase your tickets!
Special for our 30th year, you will be able to schedule your tintype photography session with the Tintype Company to capture your spooky memory. We will also have on-site tarot readings available to see what is in your future with a reading by local spiritualists.
For those who can’t climb stairs or need sign-language assistance, the museum offers an accessibility-friendly, in-person performance on October 28 at 5 PM. Guests will stay in one mobility-accessible room of the house and our actors and ASL interpreters will come to them to perform five chilling tales. If you are interested, please email access@mollybrown.org!
