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Haunted Valatie theater a diamond in the rough
  
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By Paul Crossman
Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
VALATIE — Local resident Jackie Hennessy with the help of community volunteers put on their annual Haunted House at the Valatie Theatre on Friday and Saturday, benefiting the Valatie Youth Theatre program.
The multi-room haunted house featured ghosts, ghouls, a cemetery, and even a haunted movie theatre, drawing people from all over Valatie and the surrounding communities.
This was the second year the house was held at the theatre, and the seventh year overall. Hennessy, who organized the event, says that it’s one of several fundraisers done to help benefit the youth theatre, which is a free theatre program open to anyone interested from Valatie and the surrounding communities.
“It’s a lot of work,” Hennessy said, “but as long as I have the help I need, it’s fun. As long as you like scary things, it’s a blast.”
She also added that there are individual tour guides, so that if there are younger members in a group the house can be toned-down so as to not frighten them too much.
It was obvious by the line stretching around the corner that the haunted house was an effective attraction, and according to Hennessy, this is not only because the volunteers spent so much time and effort to make it scary, but because of the low pricetag: $5 for adults and $3 for children.
Once you’ve gotten through the line, you’re greeted by Lurch from the Addams Family and then taken by your tour guide through a variety of rooms ranging from a mad scientist to scenes from the movie “Saw.” If you look carefully, you may even see a corpse rising eerily from a grave in the cemetery, making excellent use of the theatre stage’s trap door.
According to Hennessy, the toughest part of the entire project was working around the seats of the theatre, which cannot be removed. In order to make the haunted house work, she and the other volunteers were forced to use innovative techniques like building platforms over the seats, or incorporating them into rooms like the haunted movie theatre, where zombies watch Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” on repeat.
Hennessy’s younger daughter Quinn was the main designer of the rooms, and says that her and her sister are primarily responsible for getting their mother to create haunted houses over the years.
“When I was little, I always wanted to have one,” she said. “We kept asking, and finally we made one in the garage.”
The haunted house has since blossomed into a community event that Valatie has come to love.
Quinn also says that she is most proud of creating the room at the end of the house, where tour groups are trapped in a cabin with a chainsaw-weilding Jason from “Friday the 13th,” but adds that even if you don’t like scary, profits from the haunted house go to a good cause.
“It’s definitely a good cause,” she said. “We have so much work to do [on the theatre], I think people should contribute so we can fix it up one day.”
The Youth Theatre program generally does three plays during the summer: a musical, a Shakespeare comedy, and a cabaret. All are free to children who would like to participate.
For more information about how to donate to the theatre, or how to join the youth program, you can go to www.valatietheatre.org, or call 518-758-1309.
To reach reporter Paul Crossman call 518-828-1616, ext. 2266, or e-mail pcrossman@registerstar.com. To comment directly on this story, visit our website at www.registerstar.com.
The multi-room haunted house featured ghosts, ghouls, a cemetery, and even a haunted movie theatre, drawing people from all over Valatie and the surrounding communities.
This was the second year the house was held at the theatre, and the seventh year overall. Hennessy, who organized the event, says that it’s one of several fundraisers done to help benefit the youth theatre, which is a free theatre program open to anyone interested from Valatie and the surrounding communities.
“It’s a lot of work,” Hennessy said, “but as long as I have the help I need, it’s fun. As long as you like scary things, it’s a blast.”
She also added that there are individual tour guides, so that if there are younger members in a group the house can be toned-down so as to not frighten them too much.
It was obvious by the line stretching around the corner that the haunted house was an effective attraction, and according to Hennessy, this is not only because the volunteers spent so much time and effort to make it scary, but because of the low pricetag: $5 for adults and $3 for children.
Once you’ve gotten through the line, you’re greeted by Lurch from the Addams Family and then taken by your tour guide through a variety of rooms ranging from a mad scientist to scenes from the movie “Saw.” If you look carefully, you may even see a corpse rising eerily from a grave in the cemetery, making excellent use of the theatre stage’s trap door.
According to Hennessy, the toughest part of the entire project was working around the seats of the theatre, which cannot be removed. In order to make the haunted house work, she and the other volunteers were forced to use innovative techniques like building platforms over the seats, or incorporating them into rooms like the haunted movie theatre, where zombies watch Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” on repeat.
Hennessy’s younger daughter Quinn was the main designer of the rooms, and says that her and her sister are primarily responsible for getting their mother to create haunted houses over the years.
“When I was little, I always wanted to have one,” she said. “We kept asking, and finally we made one in the garage.”
The haunted house has since blossomed into a community event that Valatie has come to love.
Quinn also says that she is most proud of creating the room at the end of the house, where tour groups are trapped in a cabin with a chainsaw-weilding Jason from “Friday the 13th,” but adds that even if you don’t like scary, profits from the haunted house go to a good cause.
“It’s definitely a good cause,” she said. “We have so much work to do [on the theatre], I think people should contribute so we can fix it up one day.”
The Youth Theatre program generally does three plays during the summer: a musical, a Shakespeare comedy, and a cabaret. All are free to children who would like to participate.
For more information about how to donate to the theatre, or how to join the youth program, you can go to www.valatietheatre.org, or call 518-758-1309.
To reach reporter Paul Crossman call 518-828-1616, ext. 2266, or e-mail pcrossman@registerstar.com. To comment directly on this story, visit our website at www.registerstar.com.
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