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Ghost Walk draws crowd to city haunts (with video)
By Paul Crossman
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An overflowing river of people crowded into Space 360 on Warren Street for the start of Hudson’s first annual Ghost Walk on Friday — an event where student written stories were performed by their peers at various historic locations in the city.
Actors from Walking the Dog Theater combined forces with the Bindlestiff Family Variety Arts Inc. team for the first time to create a unique (and spooky) theater experience for people from all over Columbia County.
According to Ghost Walk creator Stephanie Monseu, the newly invented program was only expected to draw a crowd of around 60 people.
“We hoped for 80,” she told the Register-Star.
What she got though, was a gathering beyond anything she expected, with people turning out from as far away as Canaan and Austerlitz to see the shows.
The 150 tickets quickly sold out, and many people who hadn’t pre-ordered either had to leave, or wait in long lines in the hopes of having enough time to see the performances once the ticketed groups were through.
Though the large numbers put an unexpected burden on the host, she was thrilled to see so many people interested in the program.
“I have a deep love of stories and literature and history and architecture,” she said. “When I moved to Hudson I fell in love with the way the city looks, then I met members of the arts community and wanted to work with them.” She went on to say that it was from these roots that Hudson Ghost Walk was formed, and that she is glad to be a part of a community where so many people are receptive to the arts.
“Hudson is a great place to live,” she said.
The program included stories written by teen authors Natalie Cross, Kimberly Drahushuk, Brendan Paholak, and Christian Peterson, with performances by teen actors Caitlyn Mazzarano, Lillias Teque, Friedolin Stockmeier, Aneli Polan, and Saskia Zyglar.
Tour groups all met at Space 360 and were dispersed to various starting points around the city, from the Hudson Library where they heard the story of a man of God who was punished for sins he didn’t commit, to a short play depicting the final, maddening days of Henry Hudson’s last Voyage upstairs at Space 360.
Other chilling tales included an account of treacherous brothers that ends in murder and loneliness at the parlors in Space 360, the frightening story of a group of children killed and possessed in the already-creepy basement of the Register-Star, and a chronicle fittingly named “The Opera,” which took place at Hudson’s very own Hudson Opera House, and centered around a curse which supposedly haunted its grounds.
Thrill seekers and story-lovers walked from location to location, and despite the small delays caused by the unexpected crowd, nearly everyone seemed to enjoy both the stories and the walk through some of the more historic buildings in Hudson.
“It was a bargain, and it’s good stuff,” said Andrew Tanzillo of Greenport. “It’s good for Hudson, and it was well-attended.” He went on to add that he enjoyed the opportunity to walk the streets of Hudson and see some of the buildings in a new light.
Local resident Theresa Cipollari agreed.
“I think it’s great that kid’s have the opportunity to write and act these things out,” she said.
Christian Peterson, the writer of the story “Purgation” which was performed in the Hudson Library was among the tour groups to go through and watch the various performances, and said that he thought the entire thing was very well done, though being an actor himself, he would have preferred to do both the writing and the reading of his story.
“I thought it was really good,” he said, “and only a little bit got left out.” Peterson went on to say that one of his friends also wrote “The Opera,” and that it was nice to see that performed as well.
Natalie Cross, the writer of “Purgation,” which took place at the Register-Star, agreed, saying that she first got into it because her dad was a member of the program.
“I thought it was interesting,” she said. “I love to write.”
Much of the tour was conducted in and around Space 360, who generously donated their space and time for the community event.
“[We decided to help host the tour] because the building has history,” said General Manager Steve Gallager. “We’ve also hosted Walking the Dog Theater for a long time.”
Monseu plans to continue working with the arts community, and hopes for the ghost walk or something similar to it to become an annual event in Hudson in the future.
“I would love to do it every year,” she said. “My goal is to better connect with teachers in various high schools in the county and to try and look for funding for more [writing] workshops.”
Overall, both Monseu and the more than two dozen volunteers participating in the program seemed to feel that the night was a great success, and that the amount of people who turned out was a tribute to both the city of Hudson and its community.
“What’s really amazing to me is how strongly the community has responded,” said Monseu.
To reach reporter Paul Crossman, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2266 or e-mail pcrossman@registerstar.com.
Actors from Walking the Dog Theater combined forces with the Bindlestiff Family Variety Arts Inc. team for the first time to create a unique (and spooky) theater experience for people from all over Columbia County.
According to Ghost Walk creator Stephanie Monseu, the newly invented program was only expected to draw a crowd of around 60 people.
“We hoped for 80,” she told the Register-Star.
What she got though, was a gathering beyond anything she expected, with people turning out from as far away as Canaan and Austerlitz to see the shows.
The 150 tickets quickly sold out, and many people who hadn’t pre-ordered either had to leave, or wait in long lines in the hopes of having enough time to see the performances once the ticketed groups were through.
Though the large numbers put an unexpected burden on the host, she was thrilled to see so many people interested in the program.
“I have a deep love of stories and literature and history and architecture,” she said. “When I moved to Hudson I fell in love with the way the city looks, then I met members of the arts community and wanted to work with them.” She went on to say that it was from these roots that Hudson Ghost Walk was formed, and that she is glad to be a part of a community where so many people are receptive to the arts.
“Hudson is a great place to live,” she said.
The program included stories written by teen authors Natalie Cross, Kimberly Drahushuk, Brendan Paholak, and Christian Peterson, with performances by teen actors Caitlyn Mazzarano, Lillias Teque, Friedolin Stockmeier, Aneli Polan, and Saskia Zyglar.
Tour groups all met at Space 360 and were dispersed to various starting points around the city, from the Hudson Library where they heard the story of a man of God who was punished for sins he didn’t commit, to a short play depicting the final, maddening days of Henry Hudson’s last Voyage upstairs at Space 360.
Other chilling tales included an account of treacherous brothers that ends in murder and loneliness at the parlors in Space 360, the frightening story of a group of children killed and possessed in the already-creepy basement of the Register-Star, and a chronicle fittingly named “The Opera,” which took place at Hudson’s very own Hudson Opera House, and centered around a curse which supposedly haunted its grounds.
Thrill seekers and story-lovers walked from location to location, and despite the small delays caused by the unexpected crowd, nearly everyone seemed to enjoy both the stories and the walk through some of the more historic buildings in Hudson.
“It was a bargain, and it’s good stuff,” said Andrew Tanzillo of Greenport. “It’s good for Hudson, and it was well-attended.” He went on to add that he enjoyed the opportunity to walk the streets of Hudson and see some of the buildings in a new light.
Local resident Theresa Cipollari agreed.
“I think it’s great that kid’s have the opportunity to write and act these things out,” she said.
Christian Peterson, the writer of the story “Purgation” which was performed in the Hudson Library was among the tour groups to go through and watch the various performances, and said that he thought the entire thing was very well done, though being an actor himself, he would have preferred to do both the writing and the reading of his story.
“I thought it was really good,” he said, “and only a little bit got left out.” Peterson went on to say that one of his friends also wrote “The Opera,” and that it was nice to see that performed as well.
Natalie Cross, the writer of “Purgation,” which took place at the Register-Star, agreed, saying that she first got into it because her dad was a member of the program.
“I thought it was interesting,” she said. “I love to write.”
Much of the tour was conducted in and around Space 360, who generously donated their space and time for the community event.
“[We decided to help host the tour] because the building has history,” said General Manager Steve Gallager. “We’ve also hosted Walking the Dog Theater for a long time.”
Monseu plans to continue working with the arts community, and hopes for the ghost walk or something similar to it to become an annual event in Hudson in the future.
“I would love to do it every year,” she said. “My goal is to better connect with teachers in various high schools in the county and to try and look for funding for more [writing] workshops.”
Overall, both Monseu and the more than two dozen volunteers participating in the program seemed to feel that the night was a great success, and that the amount of people who turned out was a tribute to both the city of Hudson and its community.
“What’s really amazing to me is how strongly the community has responded,” said Monseu.
To reach reporter Paul Crossman, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2266 or e-mail pcrossman@registerstar.com.
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the skepchick wrote on Nov 22, 2009 3:26 PM:
The names of the actresses are Caitlyn Mezzarano, Lillias Teague, and Aneli Poland. Natalie Cross was not the writer of "Purgation", Christian Peterson was.
I'm guessing that this was just lazyness on the part of the reporter, since the full names of the teen performers were given and earlier on in the article it correctly states that Christian wrote "Purgation". "