A Spooky Basement and a Busy Weekend of Arts in L.A.

Halloween is creeping up on Los Angeles, and the city is full of spooky and artistic things to do this weekend. One of the most talked-about events is 'Hospital of Emotions After Dark,' a special nighttime version of an immersive art show held inside a shuttered hospital near downtown L.A. The show features roving actors, eerie lighting, and a separately ticketed basement experience called 'Below' that is getting a lot of attention.

The main 'Hospital of Emotions' show takes place inside the old St. Vincent's Medical Center, a building that covers 45,000 square feet and has 80 different rooms spread across four floors. The exhibit opened in late May and was supposed to close in July, but it kept going because so many people wanted to see it. Now in October, visitors can buy tickets for a special after-dark version of the show, where the lights are dimmed and actors appear in unexpected places.

For an extra ticket, visitors can ride an elevator down to the hospital's long-abandoned basement for 'Below,' a short theater show led by an actor playing a nun. The basement has real old hallways, examination rooms, specimen labs, and even an autopsy room, which makes the experience feel very real. The actress playing the nun, Penny Wiggins, gave such a committed performance that she actually cried during one part of the show.

The hospital first opened in the late 1800s and was the very first hospital in the city of Los Angeles. Because the show uses the building's real abandoned spaces, it feels different from other Halloween attractions like Griffith Park's Haunted Hayride or the Queen Mary's Dark Harbor. Those shows rely mostly on jump scares and loud noises, while 'Below' tells an actual story with real acting and dancing.

Beyond the hospital, the weekend is packed with arts events across the city. On Friday, Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall for his first solo show there since 2019. Also on Friday, the Los Angeles Philharmonic will perform Béla Bartók's 'Concerto for Orchestra,' led by conductor Susanna Mälkki.

On Saturday, a haunted theater experience called 'Haunted Soiree: True Crime' continues at Nocturne Theatre in Glendale, inspired by a real murder case from 1928. A new play called 'Saint Megan' also opens Saturday at the Rogue Machine Theatre, exploring the story of the granddaughter of the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church. A craft art exhibition honoring artist Laura Andreson opens at the Craft in America Center and runs through January 2027.

Sunday brings more performances, including a dance show from the London-based Akram Khan Company at UCLA's Royce Hall. The group's final touring production features women performing both contemporary and traditional Bharatanatyam dances. Chamber music group Camerata Pacifica also kicks off its 37th season in Thousand Oaks that same afternoon.

Later in the week, the Houston Ballet arrives at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa on Thursday. The company brings young pianist George Li for a show that blends ballet choreography with live Chopin piano music. Also on Thursday, playwright Luis Alfaro's new play 'Speaking In Tongues' begins previews at the Los Angeles Theatre Center downtown, telling the story of migrant farmworkers in California's Central Valley.

There is also big culture news from around the city this week. The 24th Street Theatre raised $3 million to buy the building it has called home for 29 years, and plans to add a new garden and a black box theater named in honor of actor Jack Black. The Sierra Madre Playhouse received $2.5 million from the State of California — the biggest gift in its 100-year history — to make upgrades and improvements to its building.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Orchestre de Paris announced a new program called the Salonen International Conducting Fellowship, which will help train young orchestra conductors starting in the 2027–28 season. Two to four conductors will spend time working with each orchestra in both Los Angeles and Paris. It is one of several signs that L.A.'s arts community is growing and investing in the future.