October 23, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

‘Scary Stories’ fun Halloween entertainment for kids on Hill
by LOUISE E. WRIGHT

A group of contest winners from the Scary Stories in 2006 are: front row, from left, a Christmas gift (Gavin from Elkins Park) and a devil ventriloquist with his dummy (Joseph from Mt. Airy); and back row, from left, Laura Ingalls Wilder (Margaret from Wyncote), Benjamin Franklin (Jasper from Chestnut Hill), baby girl in pink (Emma from Abington) and candy corn (McKenzie from Plymouth Meeting). (Ed. Note: The Local was not able to obtain the last names of the children.) ——Photo by Catherine Pappas

Browse in Borders/Chestnut Hill or Walk a Crooked Mile Books in the Mt. Airy Train Station, and you might find Jane Toczek haunting the horror, supernatural and sci-fi sections. Coordinator of Scary Stories at the Stagecrafters Theatre, Toczek searches year-round for spine-tingling material.

The two-day Halloween event originated in 2003 as a means of celebrating the Stagecrafters’ 75th anniversary by giving something back to the community. Stage manager and special effects technician Mark Grayson, or “Gravestone” as he is known at this eerie time of year (all of the cast and crew assume ghoulish identities for the occasion), came up with the idea. “I used to do a haunted garage in my home and scare kids,” he explained, “so I suggested mounting the show on a bigger scale.”

Toczek describes the first Scary Stories as “a work in progress.” Costumed performers stood on stage and read overly long tales and poems, resulting in a static and slow-moving program. “The attention spans of excited children don’t tolerate really long stories,” she observed.

Now in its sixth year, Scary Stories has matured into a polished and fast-paced theatrical event. The company learned by doing, something made possible by a bequest from Jane Dudley stipulating that some of the funds be used for children’s activities. As a result, Toczek acknowledged, “we were able to operate the event at a loss while we got a sense of how it all should work.”

Initially, Scary Stories relied on volunteers who supplied their own material. One of the participants suggested R. L. Stine’s Revenge of the Snowman. Too long for a reading, the story, which has a number of characters, lent itself to dramatization, so several performers acted it out. Now a number of stories involve multiple actors playing roles. Toczek adapts the tales herself, with help from company members like Catherine Pappas, who also handles staging and tickets.

The acting has also improved over the years. No longer can just anyone participate, for Toczek holds auditions. Patrick Martin, an actor and sound technician, values the experience. “It’s a challenge,” he said. “If you grab the kids’ attention, then you know you’re doing it well. I build upon what I learn at Scary Stories and put it into other acting roles.”

Special effects also presented a challenge. At first, so much fog swirled around the theater that those seated in the front rows couldn’t see the stage nor could the performers make contact with their audience. It didn’t take the crew long to realize, though, that when it came to fog, less was more.

 According to Grayson, Scary Stories is “a fairly low tech show, but there are lots of little nuances that work because of good lighting and sound.” He singles out the sound effects for Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” as well as the voiceover of Dr. Frankenstein in Greg van Eekhout’s “Waiting Up for Father,” a monologue for the monster.

Experience, however, offers no guarantee that the show will go off without a hitch. The snowman in the Stine dramatization has a chicken wire frame that last year refused to stay together. Had it not been for the quick thinking and adept handling of the actors and stage manager, the snowman never would have survived to exact his revenge.   

Ed Young remembers the time he performed a dramatic reading of “The Tell-Tale Heart.” When he appeared out of nowhere at the bottom of the stage, the kids in the audience jumped. In making his entrance through a trap door, however, Young got so much dust in his contact lenses that he couldn’t see. Luckily, he had the piece memorized.

Scary Stories also includes a costume contest and a magic show, in which the kids themselves often provide the humor. Sometimes as many as 100 children participate in the costume parade, Toczek interviewing each in turn. One year, she recalls, a little boy, nattily dressed in a suit and dark glasses, announced that he was Ray Charles. “Oh,” quipped Toczek, “are you going to play something?” Stage-frightened “Ray” just froze.

While the kids march across the stage, the actors sit in the front row and pick the winners. They look for originality, thoughtfulness and cuteness, and consider homemade costumes a plus. Recent winners have included Laura Ingalls Wilder, Ben Franklin and a boy made up so convincingly as a woman that the judges assumed he was a girl.

Jeff Ragan, the Amazing Dr. Magic, creates his illusions so skillfully that the other performers, who watch from backstage, still haven’t figured out his secrets. He invites children from the audience to assist him in a trick known as “The Impossible Head Chopper.” Invariably, when asked to place a hand in the miniature guillotine-like contraption, one of the volunteers chickens out.         

The program changes from year to year, although there are a few holdovers. This year, for instance, will feature several new tales with probable reprisals of “The Witches’ Night before Halloween” and “Welcome Home.” Usually two or three years is the maximum for a story as the actors tire of it. Not so the kids, who love repetition. “Some come each year and attend both nights,” Toczek related. “They like to hear the stories again.” Last year a little boy, no more than eight-years-old, boasted, “I’ve been coming for five years now.”

The Stagecrafters offers two evening performances as well as a less frightening matinee geared toward younger children. Intended for kids old enough to stay out after dark, the evening program might feature a tale like “The Jack o’ Lantern.” When the fellow who has carved the pumpkin puts his hand inside to adjust the candle, Jack bites it off. “This story,” Toczek emphasized, “is most definitely not for the matinee.” Nor is “The Candyman,” a story she selected because of its message: Don’t talk to strangers or take candy from them. One adult actually complained the story was “too scary.”

Instead, the matinee features friendly monsters and shorter, less spooky stories. A good example is “Rap, Rap, Rap,” in which a man searches his house for the source of a mysterious noise. Ultimately he locates it in a closet that contains —   wrapping paper. Not really scary, the story works because it builds suspense.

This year’s Scary Stories takes place at the Stagecrafters, 8130 Germantown Ave., on Friday, Oct. 24, 7 p.m., and on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Adult tickets are $5; children under 12 are admitted free but must be accompanied by a paying adult. Reservations are recommended.