David Holthouse’s real-life tale of sexual assault and attempted murder gets a staging off-Broadway

Deep below midtown Manhattan, Theater 5 of New World Stages has been transformed into a 1970s suburban basement. A bright orange armchair sits strategically downstage of the cheap wooden shelves that occupy every wall. Those shelves are cluttered with Star Wars figurines, old trophies, and cassette tapes. Stage right, a pilfered “neighborhood watch” sign stands sentry over the room. It’s the kind with a red mark barring entry to a shadowy stranger wearing a broad black hat and cloak. Stalking the Bogeyman is not about that kind of villain. It’s based on journalist David Holthouse’s startling confession in the pages of Westword that as an adult, he seriously planned to kill the man who raped him when he was seven years old. His rapist wasn’t a stranger in a trench coat offering candy from his car window, but the teenage son of a family friend. This faithful (yet overly simplified) stage adaptation rests on an uncomfortable truth: Sexual violence is much likelier to come from a friend or family member.