Haunted House opens at Warwick Valley Community Center

WARWICK — Spooky things are afoot at the Warwick Valley Community Center.
The Wickham Works production crew is putting together a unique Haunted House.
Taking the Day of the Dead as inspiration, the immersive experience tells the story of La Llorona - the Weeping Woman - a popular Mexican ghost story:
A beautiful peasant girl, Maria, falls in love with a nobleman. When he spurns her love, she drowns their two children. She is cursed to mourn them forever and seek new victims to drown and take their place to reclaim her family.
Nine rooms“This year the haunted house consists of nine rooms, each of which are very chilling environments, all made with repurposed materials,” said Dayna Christison, who heads the design team.
The team consists of ten skilled local makers, including Rebecca Pry, a local artist and designer who created the three-color screen printed poster.
“As part of Warwick’s sesquicentennial celebration," Christison added, "we wanted to pay tribute to the rich Latino culture of members of our community."
One of Wickham Works’ missions is to bring a community maker space and materials exchange to Warwick and surrounding towns, as well as cultivate maker business initiatives.
Community participation“Part of what makes this such a fun event for us, is the participation of so many people from the community,” said Melissa Shaw-Smith, creative director of Wickham Works and the event’s producer. “We have more than 40 performers from the high school Interact Club, the Acting Out Playhouse and the Community Center’s Youth Advisory Board, as well as other local actors. Many of them help out with the sets, too.”
Morgan Sirota, the current president of Interact, the community service club at the high school, participated in the program last year.
"The haunted house is one of my favorite memories because I got to create and act in it with my friends and family," Sirota said. "Throughout the experience I met amazing people and learned new activities, one being scaring people half to death. It is so much fun and I’m glad to be able to participate again this year."
When and how muchCasa de los Muertos, or House of the Dead will run for two weekends – Friday and Saturday, Oct. 20 and 21, and Friday and Saturday, Oct. 27-28 at the Warwick Valley Community Center, from 7 to 10 p.m. each evening.
Tickets are $12 for this fund-raising event. Next week's Warwick Advertiser for a $200 off coupon.