A member of the team behind the terror at Kennywood
For actors portraying the monsters, ghouls and maniacs lurking the grounds at Kennywood Phantom Fright Nights, getting up close to park visitors means the makeup has to be believable.
After all, the undead aren’t going to effectively haunt the living if prosthetics are falling off.
Between 2007 and 2015, Adam King spent several Halloween seasons as part of the team prepping the zombies, clowns and other creatures of the night at the West Mifflin amusement park — all while balancing an early morning shift at Target on the presentation and sign team that handled new products and signage.
“I’d work at Target from 4 a.m. until about 12:30,” said Mr. King, 33. “Then I’d get to Kennywood about 4 p.m. and the actors would come in shortly after that.
“A sane person would look at that and say, ‘Kennywood is minimum wage,’ but it was so much fun to do. It was just a blast.”
Rightout of college, Mr. King had initially applied to be one of the actorsat Kennywood’s annual Halloweenevent, but jumped at an openingin the makeup department.
Not only did he already have a love of horror films, he had studied studio art at Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio. While there, he started making latex Halloween masks at a company in Lakewood, Ohio, which specialized in monster masks and special effects.
“It was a real learning experience,” he said. “I had done makeup on myself and other friends, but the rest I learned from the internet and books. And it was on a timeline, so you have to be fast but good. And it looks a lot different in the makeup room than in the park where it’s dark.”
Oneactor who stood out was a womanwho portrayed a witch. She entertainedpeople waiting for rides.
“Thatwas probably the most intricatemakeup because she had a customnose and chin, and she neededa new one every week,” Mr. Kingsaid. “We had to make it believablebecause she would talk to peoplein line and interact with them,so we had to make sure the edgeswere blended and things like that.She was usually the last job of the night.”
Another creative challenge was an area of the park where actors were victims of a biological weapon outbreak.
“We had to give them boils and do veins and broken capillaries.”
Eventually, Mr. King moved on and focused more of his effort on his own work.
Thatincluded attending conventionsand events like Pittsburgh MakersFaires to showcase his latex creaturemasks and sculpted monsterfigures. He also has taught at thePittsburgh Center for the Arts.
Meanwhile, the Lower Burrell resident, who maintains a day job in sales, is finding ways to stretch creatively and work in other media. “I still do masks, but these days I’m working with plastics rather than latex, so I’m working with smaller castings.”