CHARLES PRITCHARD
Staff Writer
It doesn’t take much to startle a person. One person jumping out of a closet wearing a mask can spook an entire room.
Still to make people actually afraid — to make someone worried about what is around the next corner and dread every sound and movement? That takes talent, and from the sounds of it, the students who are organizing this year’s Terror in the Trees have talent in spades.
President Nicholas Martines and Vice President Chris Notar, both of the Interactive Theatre Society, are organizing this year’s event.
“We decided to take it up a notch this year,” said Notar.
The pair says that new elements are in the works for the event at the end of this month, and that they’re taking it farther than just having a haunted house through the Ring Road Forest.
But a haunted house it is nonetheless — and along with haunted houses come all the usual things that people associate with fear, such as costumed men and women jumping out and screaming, or actors recreating startling and disturbing scenes.
But what makes Terror in the Trees shine this year are three key components that set it apart from other events of its kind: lighting, creep-outs and one hell of an experience.
Last year, generators and lamps were used to light up the path and the surrounding area, not leaving much mystery to the whole experience.
“This year we’re doing a blackout,” Martines said. “This year, we’re going new. Hopefully, we’re going to have no generator at all and the groups are going to have a single lantern.”
The goal when relying on that sole lantern held by a guide? Marines and Notar want people on edge.
“It’ll make [scaring] a lot easier. All the audience will be right by the lantern and will probably be looking at it a lot … but all the actors and actresses wanting to scare them? It’s like a fly to a light.”
Darkness and dim lighting aren’t the only things that the Interactive Theatre Society is utilizing to intensify the experience, though. They’re also looking to exploit some common phobias.
“Last year we used clowns — we use that very often. This year, we have a fly scene,” Martines says, doing his best to hide a smirk. “They’re going to be pretending to be completely swarmed and [will have] larvae inside them.”
The Interactive Theatre Society is definitely going all out this year. During practices, the group has been heard letting out piercing screams while delivering lines and practicing scenes. Even though it sounds like play, Notar says it’s hard work.
“We’ve done a couple scare workshops, such as who to aim for in a group and who to avoid, or at least impress — even scare,” he said. “And we mostly try to make sure everyone knows what they’re doing in the forest.”
Even with the fear factor being dialed up, people are still drawn to Terror in the Trees. Shayla Lipscomb, a sophomore, says she’s been to the event before, and she’s looking forward to going back.
“It was scary and funny,” Lipscomb said with a little laugh. “It was funny because people you were with were scared, and it’s people who you’re with every day, and you don’t expect them to actually be scared.”
Lipscomb also said she wants to see more “strange and weird things this year.”
And since, according to Notar, Terror in the Trees organizers are raising the bar this year, it sounds like everyone is going to get their fill of strange and weird.
Terror in the Trees kicks off Oct. 23 at 8 p.m. Admission is $4 for Fredonia students and $5 for the general public. The event ends on November 1.