The 20th anniversary of Brookdale’s Haunted Theater will highlight fan-favorite characters and rooms from previous years. Tyler Lee
By Stephen Appezzato
LINCROFT – How can the makers of the deliciously frightening Haunted Theater on Brookdale Community College’s Lincroft campus top themselves after two decades in the scare game?
By showcasing fan-favorite rooms and characters from the production’s history in “20 Years of Fear,” this year’s theme for the student-led horrorfest.
The Haunted Theater is a staple attraction for residents and visitors during the Halloween season. In its initial years, the theater had a roster of 20 actors, who scared approximately 100 visitors over just two evenings. Now, the four-time award-winning haunted attraction, one of the best in the Garden State, is run by an 80-person crew and scares 4,000 customers each year. This year’s 20th anniversary edition will be particularly impressive.
A lot of work goes into creating the frightening display. According to Sherri Vanderspiegel, supervisor of the Brookdale Performing Arts Center, planning for the production is a year- round event.
“Our goal every year is basically by the end of May or very beginning of June that we’re fully planned. So once July 1 hits we’re ordering stuff. We start building right away,” Vanderspiegel said.
Vanderspiegel has helped create the show since its inception. Ticket sales contribute to the school’s performing arts program and other not-so-scary shows, such as their yearly musical and summer Shakespeare performances.
For Brookdale’s performing arts students, the Haunted Theater is not at all like these more conventional shows.
“The acting in a haunted house varies from acting in a theatrical production,” Gina Ziegler, an actress, set designer and executive committee member, explained.
Actors begin auditioning and training for the show in the summer.
There’s an “interest- ing learning curve,” said Ziegler, based on an actor’s ability to scare visitors and convey their character in a short amount of time.
Ziegler is an actress who meets people in the queue as they are waiting to enter the theater as fan-favorite Addy. Those who frequent the yearly fright might recognize Addy – the only recurring character – scarily “greeting” visitors; it’s a part Ziegler has played for eight years.
Each actor boasts intricate, unique makeup and costumes. For Danielle Garritt, a veteran makeup artist with the production, face painting brings a character to life. Garritt learned the craft when she was a student at Brookdale.
“There was a teacher here that took us under his wing and taught us everything we know. And then we kind of ran with it,” she said. After many helpful YouTube tutorials and an endless supply of actors to practice on, Garritt and the makeup team perfected the art of airbrushing.
The crew transforms about 50 faces each night, spending around 15 minutes on each person.
“We have so many people to get through, so it’s kind of like an assembly line,” Garritt joked.
For Vanderspiegel, Ziegler and Garritt, getting the rare opportunity to shock thousands of visitors each year is not the only delight of being in the Haunted Theater. The tradition is also a reunion for many Brookdale alumni who fondly remember the early years of the production. It is also a fun and creative outlet for talented students in the school’s theater program.
“It’s just nice to see them be able to have a different type of outlet than just their normal everyday college experience,” said Vanderspiegel.
“We’ve seen it all,” Garritt said. “We’ve been through a pandemic. We’ve been through Hurricane Sandy. We’ve been through all sorts of ups and downs and it’s still so successful. It’s so exciting.”
This year’s 20 Years of Fear will include a number of new experiences. For the fainter of heart, the crew will offer Scaredy Cat Tours. The fright-free offering will allow visitors a unique walkthrough of the theater without actors popping out. These backstage tours will occur from 2 to 4 p.m. Oct. 22 and 29.
A new carnival tent with games, snacks and food trucks will also be on site, as well as a movie night Oct. 13 and a screening of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” Oct. 27. On opening weekend Oct. 13 and 14, guests will be treated to an appearance from horror celebrity Randal A. Mihaloff, the actor who played Leatherface in “Texas Chainsaw Massacre III.”
For more information on this year’s Haunted Theatre and to purchase tickets, visit brookdalehauntedtheater.com.
The article originally appeared in the October 5 – 11, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
