With only two and a half weeks to prepare, the Drama Club put in a lot of effort and energy in order to pull off the successful three days of Haunted Woods last week. This is their biggest fundraiser of the year and helps pay for their annual production, which will be Shrek this year.
“We did a lot of hard work,” sophomore Aiyana Herrera said. “All of us had to put a lot of dedication in to make this happen.”
Senior tour guide Libby Keller was one of the tour guides who led their terrified audience through the dark and scary woods.
The tour through the woods went through seven different scary skits. Visitors saw scenes involving puppets, a magic show, a sorority party, a campfire, a graveyard, a psychward, and darkness Paonne. The cast had to come up with the costumes themselves and create props for their skits to bring out the terror in the woods.
“Wednesday night was really busy,” cast member senior Dan Cain said. “It did seem like a lot of people were interested in coming.”
About 40 students in all grades were involved in the production this year. Cast members in Haunted Woods do not necessarily have to be in Drama Club, though.
“It’s a good opportunity to see if you want to do Drama Club,” Herrera said. “You get a taste of it, and you don’t have to fully commit yet.”
Each night of the event, the Haunted Woods crew had to get into their creative costumes and do their hair and makeup, which could take up to two hours to prepare.
Sophomores Brendan Schabhetl and Ben Dionne dressed up like a grandma and grandpa to entertain people while they waited in line for Haunted Woods.
Everyone had a different role in the woods, from actors in skits to tour guides and “scares” who jump up behind people in the audience. All of the cast members had the opportunity to instill some fear in their visitors.
“As a welcomer, I liked getting to interact with the audience and prepare them for the tour,” sophomore Ben Dionne said.
Junior Julia Fitzgibbons said the middle school students who participated in a tour through the woods were less scared than the high school students, a surprising revelation.
“It’s scary for the audience,” sophomore Sean Daley said, “but it’s scary for us, too. We have to excite the crowd, and we never know what is going to happen or how they will react.”
A shared love of scaring people was present amongst the Haunted Woods cast members, which contributed to making their event a success again this year.
“I just like scaring people,” senior Matt McElrath said.
Freshman Jaylee Jackson was a scare in the production, meaning she blended in the with crowd and then terrified them when they were not expecting it.
Junior Maddi Sousa gets ready to scare her audience.
“I liked to walk right up behind people and scare them,” Jackson said.
The Haunted Woods crew collectively said the experience was really fun and amazing. Returning members hope to send more scares and tremors through their audience next fall.
“We want to thank everyone for coming,” Fitzgibbons said. “We hope to see everyone again next year.”
