Have you ever thought about how you would feel if you were in a haunted house and couldn’t get out? What would make you want to go to a haunted house? Friday night, if you attended the MMCRU Middle School play, these were questions that were asked. As the first part of the play progressed, those in attendance probably asked themselves why anyone would want to go to a haunted house for any reason.
Griffin (Joshua Peterson), the ghost host was all ready for whoever was going to invade the haunted house known as the Gravestone Manor. The audience could see the main room of this house that had dirty windows covered with spider webs and spider webs hanging from the ceiling, but probably weren’t prepared for the lights that kept going off and on as well as a sudden howling wind and a c r e a k i n g door! Yes, there was even lightning and thunder. Why was the furniture in this creepy room covered when a broken down fireplace and mantel and a small dusty table wasn’t?
Griffin, the ghost host, begins to tell the sound effects crew that they had better be ready with what they had rehearsed for someone was coming to visit the Gravestone Manor. He does get perturbed when they didn’t get with it as planned! Griffin was ready to share with us some of the spookiest stories of those who had visited Gravestone Manor.
The first story Griffin lets us in on was when Stella (Madison Lowden) and Adele (Izabella Hinsch) come sneaking in. They are on a scavenger hunt and don’t plan on staying long—just long enough to get what they are after. They had already gotten a pebble from a graveyard and a raven feather and all they need now was a mummy’s hand. They did a quick search and found a mummy hand on the mantel. Now it was time to go and quickly only the door wouldn’t open and neither would a window that was locked! Lightning and thunder make the girls freak out!
This next part had a Smart Stella (Rylee Smith), a mad Stella (KinziMae Hinkeldey), a Funny Stella (Rachel Doellinger), and a Confused Stella (Katie Haaven) who tried to tell the original Stella just why they were there—to help them. There is a Paranoid Adele (Gracie Todd), Optimistic Adele (Sophie Juhl), and a Confused Adele (Kaydence Stites) that tell the original Stella’s and Adele’s that there is a way out. Stella and Adele are just sure they are going to starve to death if someone doesn’t find a way out. Optimistic Adele turns the door knob the opposite way and they all exit this creepy place!
Time for a scene change and then it was back to the Gravestone Manor. This time Griffin is going to tell us about a family that awaits a boyfriend of their daughter, Luna (Gracie Schroeder). The boy friend, Glen (Jagger Becker) is late in coming and Luna is hoping he hasn’t changed his mind about meeting her family—Mom (Aubrey Dirks), Dad (Cooper Loutsch) and brother, Bane (Devin Scott). She is worried that the family will scare him off. Bane is a tough teenager dressed like teens in the ‘50’s who Mom says has promised to be on his best behavior.
When there is a knock at the door, the family all runs to answer it. Glen hands Mom some flowers of which she eats one of them! Dad asks all the questions of Glen that Dads ask when a boy is interested in his daughter. Dad doesn’t know why they are eating at a table instead of on the floor. (Does this make the audience wonder what is going on?) Mom asks Glen how he likes his food as there are growling sounds coming from off stage and he answers, “However you cook it will be fine.”
The family had been sitting on a “bone” that Mom was suppose to cook but Bane puts it in his mouth! Glen acts confused and Luna gets him something to drink as he leaves the room to go to their bathroom. Bane thinks everything is going well but Luna reminds Mom that Luna is really half dog and most people wouldn’t know how to handle that. When Glen returns he commends on the nice bathroom but noticed there was no tub or shower. That is when Dad and Bane growl! Glen tells Mom he likes her snacks in the bathroom and he lets her know they are potpourri. That is when he tells the family he knows they are not people but werewolves.
He lets Luna know he wonders how she can change from a werewolf to what she is now. She tells him it’s only on a full moon that they must change and that the family really doesn’t like being “humans”. He thinks it is okay that Luna is a werewolf and whispers something in her ear. Yes, he is a werewolf also and leaves with a wolf howl upon exiting as well as the rest of the family. All through this story, there are several sound effects.
Griffin has another story to tell us. This time it is about when a group of people arrive for a Monster Date. Johnny Smoothtalker (Bently Hill) introduces us to our host, Blinky McQueen who welcomes us to this game show where one lucky guy gets to choose between three very eligible bachelorettes who are Sarafina (Alyvia Olson), Aisling (Brea Nicks), and Tabitha (Ella Draper). The first bachelorette is Sarafina who says she is a vampire and is looking for a morning person.
Aisling is next dressed like a banshee. She is looking for a man that is alive this time! Tabitha is last and is a total witch. Kevin (Gavin Alesch) plays a polite guy and Reece (Hayden Olson) is an overlooked production assistant. (You would have to see the end of this to see who gets who!)
There were four other stories that Griffin tells us about. “Under the Bed” with Percival (Cooper Loutsch) a mean old ogre; Marty (Nathan Herrera) a goblin who speaks in rhyme; Pete (Ethan Steffen) zombie with a soul; Colin (Garrett Alesch) introverted boogeyman; and Emily (Lilly Olson) human girl, five going on forty-five!.
“The Runaways” with Roman (Brennen Ball) a robot with feelings and a plan; Julie (Laiken Bork) robot that loves Roman; Jack (Garrett Alesch) entitled teenager; and Jill (Chloe Alesch) Jack’s sister, but with more of a conscience.
“Monsters ‘R’ Us” with Vikki (Eibhlin Hogg) vampire group leader; Quasi (Trenton Hageman) eager hunchback bell ringer; Hazel (Rebekah Casson) old-school witch; Ansunamun (Jorja Regennitter) proud wife of the Egyptian King; Hotep (TJ Hermanson) the king, now a cranky mummy; Zack (Cooper McKinney) brainless zombie; Daphne (Gabby Johnson) bubbly leader of the book club; Brittany (Mikayla Shay) another bubbly leader of the book club; Heather (Charlie Freeman) super friendly human teen and Lisa (Jayda Decker) friendly girl, willing to share.
“Performance Review” with Shelia (Karlie Loutsch) supervisor of Courtney’s brain; Evelyn (Giana Stevens) head of HR for Courtney’s brain; Bea (Brea Nicks) monster in charge of terror, but not loving it; Emotion (Conner Nothem) and another Emotion (Laiken Bork).
(The names in ( ) were students in The CAST. The CREW was the following students: Sawyer Aduddell, Colt Krier, Oneira Johnson, Zarie Hanson, and Leah Moos doing BACKSTAGE.
Maddy Anderson, Kaiya Freeman, Braelyn Hinkeldey, Celia Shea, Reagen Geerdes, Tori Poeckes, and Isabella Loutsch were MAKE-UP/HAIR.
RJ Krier and Gavin Poeckes were responsible for LIGHTS.
Boston Colling, Eli Harpenau, Conner Galles, and Karsen Galles were VIDEO.
Ashley Mouser and Amy Ahlers were responsible for SOUND EFFECTS.
Luke Kintigh and Ian Dahl were responsible for MICROPHONES.
Katie Easton and Tori were HOST/HOSTESS.
Willow Hageman and Faith Spenner were PHOTOGRAPHY.
The STUDENT DIRECTOR of Gravestone Manor was Annika Juhl.
(Because of many copy writes in this particular play, not much can really be published. I did pick a few to tell about.)
This play was more laughable rather than spooky! ALL of the STUDENTS in whatever part they had in this Gravestone Manor play, did WELL! After the play was over, the students lined up as we left the auditorium and received many compliments!
This play was also done on Saturday at 2 p.m. as well as on Friday at 7 p.m.