It’s already the spookiest time of the year, but students with the Marshfield High School Drama Department hope to add a little more fright this weekend with two haunted houses at the MHS Drama Lab.
Since the beginning of October, the drama students have been working overtime to prepare for the haunted house, making all the props by hand and designing the perfect haunted house that is sure to bring chills.
Ellajane Brigham and Gracelyn Hamner came up with the idea of a haunted house over the summer and presented it to drama instructor Kevin Gowrylow, who quickly said yes.
“I think it was a collaboration between the two of us,” Brigham said. “We were looking for ways to raise money for the drama lab. We’re very creative, and we came up with this.”
Brigham, who serves as artistic coordinator of the drama council, and Hamner, who serves as vice president, spent Tuesday afternoon painting props. Many students were returning after school Wednesday and Thursday to wrap up preparations, just in time to bring a Halloween fright to Coos Bay.
“It’s mainly messed-up Candyland, like the game,” Hamner said. “We’ll have a taffy pull and other things.”
The haunted house will be open from 6:30 to 11 p.m. Friday, October 28, and again Sunday, October 30. Tickets are $5 for students and $8 for adults. The haunted house will wind through the drama lab, which is located behind the main high school building at the bottom of the hill. While the haunted house is designed to be fun, Hamner and Brigham emphasized it was also going to be scary.
All the funds raised will be used to help the drama department purchase materials to be used for theater productions later in the school year.
“I think we’ll mainly put it for class activities and also our play this year,” Hamner said.
Violet Schell, the president of the drama council, was keeping a close eye on activities Tuesday. Schell carried around a clipboard with a list of things that needed to be done as she monitored progress.
Schell said the haunted house would be ready by Friday, and she hopes the community comes out to have some fun.
“A lot of hard work put this together,” Schell said. “I hope they like it. I hope they’ll have fun.”
Schell said after COVID played havoc on the drama department and theater in general, it was nice to see a classroom full of students working to put together a production.
“It’s nice, especially since last year after COVID, our theater community dropped,” Schell said. “It’s going back up, so it’s great.”
While dozens of students worked on the haunted house, the three student leaders said the work was fun. Theater and the opportunities they have received at the Marshfield High School Drama Lab, have made it easy to commit time and effort to projects like the haunted house.
“It’s the main thing I’m good at,” Schell said. “I like the social aspect, and I like putting things together, from small hits to big productions.”
“I like the environment and the people,” Hamner added. “Everyone is very welcoming and very nice.”