THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 18, 1996 TAG: 9610180047
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JENNIE SAUNDERS, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 89 lines
EXPECT A COOL, MOIST FOG to roll through Norfolk Botanical Garden tonight, but beware of monsters, ghouls and bloody trails as the seventh annual Haunted Forest begins. The forest began in 1989 as a fund-raiser for a local veterans group. Organizers started with two generators, a jumble of extension cords and a $2,000 budget, but the show has grown into a $10,000 production - its smoke pots, sound systems and 40 scenes making it the largest Halloween show on the East Coast.
Over the years, more than 70,000 people have ventured into snake pits, a wax museum and the lab of a mad scientist. More than 14,000 are expected over the next two weekends.
``It's Halloween entertainment,'' said 24-year-old John Daman who has been an actor with the show for six years. ``It's the best show around.''
Behind the production are more than 200 area high school students and adults.
Sarah Peoples, who plays an amazon women, loves working with the forest.
``It's for a good cause, and I love to scare people,'' said Peoples, a Norview High School senior. ``I've made close friends within my scene and it's like a reunion each year when we meet again.''
Members of the Haunted Forest Committee meet during the year to gather ideas for the scenes and script but begin the hardest work - choosing scenes, assigning parts, building sets and looking for costumes - in mid-September.
By September, the conversation among the 10 or so committee members is something like:
``I want a toxic waste scene,'' and ``How about something with snakes?''
The Botanical Garden setting is appropriate because of its unique atmosphere and availability of its tram for transportation.
This year, daring souls can meet the Grim Reaper and talk with Beetlejuice, a sarcastic, pesky spirit from the grave. They'll venture past the ``Bared & Branded Jailhouse'' just before boarding the tram.
Their 30-minute ride will include passage through witch villages, a quick stay at the ``Psycho & Bates Motel,'' a personal introduction to ``The Lost Boys,'' vampires and a ride through the 150-foot-long ``Tunnel of Strange Encounters.''
The show entertains while giving aspiring actors and those who enjoy a good scare a chance to celebrate Halloween the way they did when they were children.
Corey Miller, 18, joined the cast when he was 11. His mom, assistant coordinator Rosalyn Wray, got him involved.
``Halloween is my favorite holiday,'' Miller said. ``Out here I can continue the tradition.''
Like Miller and Daman, many of the actors have been with the production for years.
Dave Hammerstone, 25, joined the cast three years ago. He became an assistant coordinator this year but insists on being in front of the scenes as well as behind them.
``I only agreed to be a coordinator this year because I could still go out and scare people,'' said Hammerstone, who will be a vampire lurking in the forest. ``I'm still going to act, that's the whole fun of it. I wouldn't do it if I couldn't act.''
Each year, the Haunted Forest Committee sends letters to area high schools to invite students to participate. Students must be at least 15 years old. Some students, like Miller, signed on younger because their parents work in the show.
Each cast member also earns between 50 and 60 hours of community service for the performances.
Frank Lipoli, head of Haunted Forest Productions, started the show to promote and raise money for the Botanical Garden as well as for local charities. He asked Vietnam Veterans Chapter 48 to help with the forest and the chapter receives proceeds from the show.
The money goes to veterans' charities, as well as The Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters and St. Mary's Infant Home in Norfolk.
Lipoli is proud of how the production has grown over the years.
``The Haunted Forest is a win, win, win, win situation,'' Lipoli said. ``The Vietnam Veterans' organization benefits, the public has a `family-oriented event,' the Norfolk Botanical Garden gains profit and recognition, and the cast is brought back into Halloween, an event that was once a childhood tradition.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
RICHARD L. DUNSTON/The Virginian-Pilot
RIGHT: Jonathan Weadon, Sabrina Myrick and Shawn Akers, all of
Granby High School, set up the ``Lost Boys'' display at the Haunted
Forest at Norfolk Botanical Garden.
Photo
Jennie Saunders is a senior at Maury High. by CNB