Based on the true story of Graceland Too
Haint No Rest
New York Theater Festival, 2022 · Photo: Tommy Kha
An Elvis museum, a haunted antebellum home, and one night in Holly Springs, MS.
For theatres and producers interested in development.
A Glassable Production
- Cast
- 6 actors
- Total runtime
- Under 90 minutes
- Format
- No intermission
Currently in developmentInterested in developing Haint No Rest?
Contact UsThe play
Haint No Rest is a play based on true events at Graceland Too, an Elvis-shrine museum in Holly Springs, Mississippi.
Set around the time of the Trayvon Martin verdict, it follows the tragic tale of an unlikely trio: Paul, the museum’s eccentric owner, and Dwight and Cindy, newlyweds trying to survive on the margins.
Formerly titled Graceland Too: The Building Elvis Never Left.
New York Theater Festival, 2022 · Photo: Tommy Kha
Why now?
Set between Paul’s Elvis shrine and Lightnin’s juke joint, the play asks how race shapes whose talent is celebrated and whose potential is overlooked. Paul’s isolation, mental health struggles, and gun ownership bring questions of care and responsibility into the same story.
These questions remain urgent today. Haint No Rest asks what a community owes its most vulnerable people, and how poverty, unmet health needs, and access to guns shape the choices available to them.
Holly Springs, Mississippi
With its motto “All Kinds of Character,” Holly Springs is the home of Graceland Too and the setting for the play. The region’s Hill Country Blues tradition, known for its driving rhythms and deep groove, runs through Dwight’s music and the scenes at Lightnin’s juke joint.
Behind the title
Haint
/hānt/ noun
A restless spirit.
A past that won’t stay past.
“Haint” refers to the ghostly spirits of the South, as well as the tradition of painting porch ceilings haint blue, a practice originating with enslaved people who believed the color could ward off restless spirits.
The title is also a Southern twist on haunt and a nod to “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked.” The past lingers, and those who remain must reckon with its echoes.
Production history
2022 — Present
New York Theater Festival
Debut as Graceland Too: The Building Elvis Never Left. Teatro LATEA, NYC. Directed by Maxx Reed, with music by Matt Wood.
Hudson Theatre Works
Staged reading in New Jersey. Directed by Adrian Wattenmaker.
10th anniversary virtual reading
Filmed reading with an introduction by Graceland Too owner Marie Underwood.
Adapted for film
Development reading for director Charles Burnett.
- Now
Haint No Rest The play
Currently in development.
On the stage
Graceland Too: The Building Elvis Never Left
New York Theater Festival, 2022 · Photos by Tommy Kha
About the playwright
From Memphis. At home in New York.
Nicole Hughes grew up in Memphis with framed flowers from Elvis's funeral tucked away in her family's attic. Her great-uncle, a funeral director, had helped with the logistics of that infamous day in Memphis.
One late night in 2008, she and a group of friends visited Paul MacLeod's Graceland Too. On the tour, she discovered she and Paul had something in common: flowers from Elvis's funeral. Paul kept his in a plastic bag pinned to the wall. That visit, and the tragic events of 2014, stayed with her and led her to write the play.
In 2024, Nicole helped Graceland Too's new owner, Marie Underwood, reopen its doors with sponsorship from the Holly Springs Tourism and Recreation Bureau.
Nicole now lives in New York. After the play's successful run at the 2022 New York Theater Festival, she hopes the story finds its next stage.
Press
Coverage of the original production,
Graceland Too: The Building Elvis Never Left.
The podcast
The Making of
Graceland Too
The Building Elvis Never Left
The creatives talk about the making of the 2022 New York Theater Festival run.
The real Graceland Too
The house behind the story.
The house in Holly Springs is open again under new owners.
Explore the real Graceland Too