Playwright’s work to benefit cancer fight
Proceeds from ‘House of the Rising Sun’ will go to Red Corner Benefit
Cheyenne Malfaro has called the stage home for a decade.
“Ever since I did my first show, I fell in love,” she said.
She acted in her first play at age 13, and in the years since has been a frequent and passionate member of the local theater community. The Owen J. Roberts High School graduate is also a popular singer/songwriter.
But of all the performances she’s done, there is one that stands out above the rest. There’s one that is particularly unique and personal.
Opened Friday, she’ll get a chance to share it for five nights.
The 23-year-old Malfaro is directing and producing a play that she wrote herself: “House of the Rising Sun.” Proceeds from the performances will support Red Corner Benefit, a local nonprofit organization that helps local families who have a child with cancer.
Malfaro, who lives in Boyertown, has a long history with Red Corner Benefit, which played a big role in her being able to bring her very first playwriting effort to life.
“House of the Rising Sun” was born out of curiosity at the end of Malfaro’s freshman year of high school. The song that the play takes its name from — a 1964 hit by The Animals — always proved popular when Malfaro would perform a version of it at different events.
“My dad and I would talk about it, about it’s origin,” she said. “It’s a complete mystery what it’s about. There are a lot of different theories.”
Malfaro’s dad, Shane Hails, suggested she create her own story about it in the form of a play.
“That sounded like something I’d be down to try,” she said.
She started working, admittedly a bit awkwardly at first. The main character become loosely based on herself, and the story developed out of a conglomeration of various plays and books she had read.
“It was just kind of a way for me to express myself,” Malfaro said. “The further along I got, I got more and more into this story I was telling.”
Malfaro finished her play during her sophomore year. That’s when Red Corner Benefit stepped in.
She had previously sung with her band during one of the group’s benefit concerts, and when word got out that she had written a play organizers opened the door for her to put it on.
“They said they were down with it if I was willing to try,” Malfaro said.
So Malfaro started getting a cast together and in December 2016 started rehearsing. The following June, she debuted “House of the Rising Sun” at Red Corner Benefit’s Douglassvillearea home.
“It turned out really well,” she said. “That opening night it was like magic happened.”
Malfaro would go on to write a second play, putting it on at Red Corner Benefit in 2019. She has also spent a lot of time refining “House of the Rising Sun.”
“The story is still the same, but the dialogue has changed so much,” she said. “It has grown so much.”
Malfaro said that’s what she loves about producing her own plays. She cherishes the ability to adapt, the freedom she has to fine-tune.
That’s not something you can do when you purchase the rights to a play someone else wrote, she said.
“You can’t really change someone else’s lines,” she said. “Our cast can take certain liberties that you usually can’t take.”
Malfaro said she’s anxious and excited to share the latest version of her work with the public. Because really, she said, it’s a piece of her.
“It feels so real to me because these are character that I’ve grown up with, since my ninthgrade year,” she said. “They feel very real to me, it’s more than just a script. It’s really fun to watch it all come to life.”