Olney Theatre’s spooky new show haunts audiences without a single word

There’s nothing spookier onstage in Montgomery County right now.

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” arrives at the Olney Theatre Center just in time for Halloween, artfully reinventing the United States’ oldest ghost story in a stunning dialogue-free performance.

With a mixture of impressive dance, explosive fight choreography and dynamic lighting and sound, the traditional story rooted in the aftermath of the Revolutionary War gets a powerful reimagining that blurs the line between fantasy and reality.

At the Oct. 10 opening night performance, the performers made a compelling case for rethinking the classic tale. First performed in Arlington in 2018, Synetic Theater brings its unique adaptation to Olney’s intimate Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab.

Their version fills in some of the backstory — Ichabod Crane (Vato Tsikurishvili) and Brom (Tony Amante) served together on the battlefield before settling down in Sleepy Hollow. The horrors of war that they experienced and participated in seem to have much to do with the mysterious headless figure (Philip Fletcher) now pillaging their town.

Synetic Theater previously brought its wordless adaptation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” to Olney in 2025. Thanks to the recent opening of the theater center’s third performance space, the Bernard Theater, Artistic Director Jason Loewith said the OTC plans to host outside performing companies more often.

With no dialogue to fall back on, Synetic Theater makes every visual element count, from clever practical effects that make the Horseman’s beheadings look shockingly real to a dramatic, “Equus”-like rendering of his horse. Pitch-black scene changes leave audiences unsettled, wondering what could be lurking in the shadows.

The debate at the heart of this iteration of “Sleepy Hollow” questions the Headless Horseman’s villainy and Ichabod Crane’s supposed heroics.

Preconceived notions about the story begin to unravel when Crane’s wife, Katrina (Sia Li Wright), learns alongside the audience what role the supposed protagonist actually played in the war.

As a terrifying darkness overtakes the stage, represented by an ensemble of performers in silver masks making synchronized, grotesque movements, it prompts viewers to consider an age-old question frequently explored in gothic tales: What makes a monster and what makes a man?

And is the Headless Horseman even a real figure seeking revenge, or merely a hallucination representing Crane’s inability to escape his past?

No matter how audiences interpret this version of the story, one thing is clear: What happened during the war will forever haunt Crane and his community.

The atrocities of war have doomed not only the veterans, but the entire town, to a lifetime of trauma, whether they actively contributed to the horrors or merely witnessed them. None of them can return to their pre-war lives. And as long as they’re unwilling to acknowledge that, they’re doomed to be haunted by the past forever.

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is onstage through Nov. 1 at the Olney Theatre Center and is appropriate for ages 13 and older. Tickets range from $41-$101.