VERO BEACH — Nearly 50 theatre students will transform into fearsome pirates and take the Riverside Children’s Theatre captive as part of the theatre’s annual haunting. A makeshift seaside town will be re-created and your task will be to escape the clutches of the dread pirate captain and crew.
Will your guide through the haunted town lead you to safety or straight to the pirate ship?
For the first time, the two haunted houses – one for the younger children and one for the older crowd – will be combined, at a certain witching hour.
For two hours, the younger house will be open to kids 7 and younger for a Peter Pan adventure, helping the Lost Boys rescue Wendy from Captain Hook.
“If they’re scared, this is a good place to be,” said Curse of Pirate Cove co-director Angelo Cerniglia of the younger house.
Children move from station to station, playing various games, include an eyeball toss and “Pin the Patch on the Pirate.”
After two hours, the younger house will be quickly converted to add on to the older house. Doing so allows all the theatre students to participate in the scary side of the haunted house.
“There’s that stigma attached to it,” Cerniglia said of playing in the younger house.
“One of the challenges is not making it too scary,” the director said of the younger house – but still being able to quickly add special touches to tie it in with the older house.
Cerniglia said there is a bit more pressure on the students and volunteers this year, given they have had a month to set up the two houses. They usually have just a week and a half.
Technical Director Tim Billman was able to get the walls set up earlier than usual, allowing the theatre students to get into their haunted “rooms” to begin decorating.
It helps the students take ownership, according to Cerniglia, who recounted a practice the other night that wrapped early. The students were give a few boxes of decorations and told to take three items.
“It was like Christmas,” he said of the excitement the students expressed.
With almost 50 theatre students and at least two adults per student participating, this is the largest haunted house the children’s theatre has undertaken.
Tour guides will lead scare-seekers through the back alleyways of a village overrun with pirates. Each guide has his or her own character and story – ensuring that no two trips through the haunted house are the same, provided you have a different guide.
“It’s kind of fun,” Cerniglia said of having the students come up with their own characters and stories.
The students are pretty much left to their own devices and imagination when establishing their individual “rooms.”
Cerniglia marvels at their creativity, noting that they probably watch too many horror movies.
“They’re actually very scary,” he said.
Reluctantly, he admitted that during rehearsals, the kids scared him a few times – often in the same one or two locations.
“There’s nothing like a good scream,” he said.
The Pirate Invasion at the Riverside Children’s Theatre begins Saturday, Oct. 22, and continues Oct. 28-30. Tickets are $5 for one trip, $8 for two trips, and $10 for three and can be bought in advance or at the door. The theatre is located at 3280 Riverside Park Dr. For tickets, call (772) 231-6990.