Dim red lights, eerie music and sudden screams. The Skyline Haunted Theater is a familiar tradition to upperclassmen, but it would be safe to say students from all grades were surprised by the Oct. 29 and 30 production.
On those days, hundreds of students and their teachers lined up outside the Rawley T. Farnsworth Theater to see how the Skyline Tech Club and Stagecraft classes had turned the stage into a Victorian dollhouse nightmare. Visitors were led up a staircase and into a dim hallway as a student performer played somber music on a grand piano.
Flashing strobe lights kept students on edge as actors dressed in Victorian costumes popped out of hidden spaces.
Two old-fashioned rooms showcased faded paintings, antique chairs and dusty skeletons. The final scare, an actor pop-ping out from above a wall, had students screaming and laughing all the way out the door.
While the haunted dollhouse only took up a small section of the theater, it was clear to many visitors how much time and effort had gone into the set design.
“Right as the school year began, we started developing themes and deciding on departments,” said Theater Tech Club president Fiona Kordosky.
“We couldn’t start any actual building though until after preview night,” the AED senior added, referring to a performing arts event held on Oct. 8.
Construction took about a month, and the project was completed entirely with materials the theater already had.
“It was a labor of love,” Kordosky said, adding that the Stage-craft classes taught by Yusuke Soi were a big help.
“They did most of the building we couldn’t do and developed the eerie set. The (club) may have come up with the ideas and costumes and whatnot, but the class really pulled it together.”
The club and class also collaborated to walk about 600 people through the haunted dollhouse, “We had so many people who wanted to help out. When everyone you’re working with wants to be there, everything else just falls into place,” Kordosky said.
