Chicken skin alert: just in time for Halloween, Honolulu Theatre for Youth will stage "Obake," a chilling collection of spooky ghost tales from Japan and Hawai'i by David Furumoto.

It opens at 7:30 p.m. Friday, and plays at 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 3, 10 and 17; and at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 27 at Tenney Theatre, St. Andrew's Cathedral. The 1:30 p.m. show on Nov. 10 will be ASL-interpreted for the hearing impaired.

Tickets are $16 adults, $8 for youths 18 and younger and seniors older than 60. The play is recommended for ages 7 and up. To order tickets, call 839-9885 or go to www.htyweb.org.

Kabuki expert Furumoto directs, choreographs and acts in this collection of three scary, yet comic, tales, which he created as a subtle homage to late storyteller Glen Grant.

"Obake" follows a group of students who have set out to investigate whether the stories of ghosts and spirit fires haunting a local cemetery are true. As they stumble through the dark, they meet a mysterious man who tells them about how such stories came to be.

The first story, "Earless Hoichi," tells of a blind musician and his horrifying journey into the spirit world.

The second tale is drawn from Furumoto's own personal experience one summer night on Maui — an experience he can find no earthly explanation for, even to this day.

And the final story is a return to Furumoto's great love for kabuki theatre, with a comic twist. Tired, cold and drenched to the skin, the classic kabuki travelers Yaji and Kita take refuge at a forest inn. Seeking food and a warm bed, they are instead scared witless by the tortured spirits that inhabit the inn — but they manage to tickle our funny bones at the same time.

Joining Furumoto in the cast are Nan Asuncion, Kimo Kaona, Cynthia See and Ryan Wuestewald. Lighting design is by Hide Tsutsui; set and properties design is by H. Bart McGeehon, sound design is by Jason Taglianetti, hair and makeup design is by Newton Koshi, and costume design is by Samantha Fromm.

Furumoto is a master teacher of kabuki and kyogen theater and is professionally certified in Japanese classical dance. Currently an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Furumoto began his career at the University of Hawai'i and HTY, and then went on to write, direct and act in theaters across the country.