My Dress Rehearsal Experience

Wow! What an experience! This is a full-body, interactive improv theatre experience. I loved it! My partner and I played with different ideas to surprise and scare people. It can be a challenge with some and others are freaked out just by looking at us. It's a lot of fun to try different ways of acting to get a response from the people going through. I was both thrilled and exhausted at the end of the night.

There is a whirlwind of activity behind the scenes of Maris Haunted Farms www.marisfarms.com as the cast gets ready. When I arrived at the makeup/costume trailor, it looked like a scene from Tim Burton meets Toy Story. Dolls were being beheaded, burned and strung from rope through holes in their heads, made by pounding nails into them. Did you know that there is a kind of make-up that is literally called "bloody scab?" Many actors apply their own makeup, and it rivals Hollywood movie professionals. Blood and gore abounds, sharpened teeth and gaping wounds are eagerly applied. These people are fully committed to the roles they play.

My makeup is awesome! I am unrecognizable once I it is on my face. It is special black-light makeup and when I put on my costume of neon colors I glow like crazy. Friends came through last night and since I told them I was a clown they thought they recognized me, but they weren't certain.

For dress rehearsal, the people coming through were family and friends of the actors. The groups of people were quite staggered and we did a lot of waiting. Many of the friends/family on the tour have experienced it before and had an idea of what to expect. This makes it harder to surprise them.

Last night I saw: The guy who thought he could scream at us and scare us. The guys who push their girlfriends/wives/mothers through ahead of them. The teens who act bored and unimpressed. The woman who closes her eyes and hides behind family members because she can't even look at clowns.

There was a videographer making the rounds, taking video for the Maris Farms website. I'll link to the video and pictures as soon as they are available.

Tonight is the first evening open to the public and I expect that we'll have more of an ongoing stream of people. I love the idea of people coming through for the first-time ever. They won't have any idea what to expect and scaring them will be more fun. It will be easier to stay in character when we are not waiting a long time between groups. It will also be more physically challenging to actively play the role for hours.

I'll post again after Night One.
Blessings,
Kelly