In just three weeks, students in a Columbia theatre technology class transformed a classroom assignment into a haunted hospital with dead patients, unsettling medical scenes and a doctor named Dr. Murder.
Students in Maximo Grano De Oro’s “Topics in Theatre Technology: Designing Experiential Product” course brought the horror-themed experience to life this week in the Classic Theatre on the first floor of the 72 E. 11th St. building.
The concept was pitched and built by the class, with students working together without a budget to create a beginning, middle and end of a story. They also made a set design that added to the unsettling atmosphere.
The haunted house featured a person lying still in a bathtub and a hospital bed, where a volunteer was attended to by Dr. Murder’s nurse, played by Erin Courtney, a junior theatre arts and production and practice major. Dr. Murder was played by Caleb Immel, first-year theatre arts production and practice major.
“It’s such a cool thing to be able to give students the opportunity to do something that they normally wouldn’t get to do,” said Oro, an assistant professor in the School of Theatre and Dance.
As part of the production, actor Rae Ruiz, a senior theatre major, started to get into hair and makeup. In the haunted house, Ruiz attempted to startle participants by almost grabbing their legs and roaring on the ground in a dead nurse costume.
“A lot of people are bringing in costume pieces and makeup and everything, and their ideas, just from home,” Ruiz said. “I think that’s what makes this really raw and authentic, is that we’re literally putting on a haunted house from almost nothing.”
Ruiz described the class as a discussion of contemplating what theater is and can be. By not limiting oneself to what theater should be, students can explore outside the box the concept is put into, encouraging their creativity and furthering their skills.
First-year Juliana Soto, a theatre arts production and practice major, was on the outskirts of the haunted house and was one of the first students to give feedback to her fellow classmates through a practice run. Even while not being the biggest fan of horror, she said it felt good to observe and offer any help needed.
“I got to see everyone else work in their stations, and I got to see how each person works, how they process the work they do,” Soto said. “It’s kind of like experiencing something scary that doesn’t quite affect you. It’s just something that’s kind of interesting and draws people in, like doing a haunted house.”
The 31 students who came to participate after hearing about the event through social media or word of mouth were asked to fill out a sign-in sheet and answer questions, including why they were going to visit the doctor. It listed different potential reasons: broken hearts, depression, allergies or anything else students wanted to be checked up on.
Greeted by a bleeding ex-patient whose check-up didn’t go so well, students were led by Dr. Murder to his hospital to take a volunteer participant to get treated.
Junior theatre arts production and practice major Madelyn Poorman visited with a roommate. They went to support their other roommate, first-year theatre arts production and practice major Virginia Ditter, who played the final role, the invisible body, that takes the doctor away at the end of the act.
To cure her clinical depression, Poorman was given serum from a syringe to rub her hands with that would cure her depression in two to three years.
Poorman went into the haunted house not knowing anything beforehand. Knowing herself enough, she knew she wouldn’t be easily scared but enjoyed it anyway.
“It was fun. I wish it was more than just today,” Poorman said.
Emily Donmoyer and Amanda Frait, both junior comedy writing and performance majors, came together after Donmoyer saw one of her mutuals post about the haunted house on Instagram.
Frait appreciated the comedy of the act, while Donmoyer was impressed with the quality of the short walkthrough.
“I really liked the comedic aspect,” Frait said. “The joking part of a platonic co-worker and that bit definitely took away some of the taste. It made it more comfortable, but it was still super scary. It was silly and scary. It’s a nice release for a moment.”
Oro and the class are now developing a similar project for December, where all the windows on the 72 E. 11th St. building’s first floor will be decorated into different winter holidays, as well as a performance for students to enjoy something more light-hearted.
Copy edited by Venus Tapang
