WHAT’S A PARTY CLOWN WITHOUT A PARTY?
Halloween’s NightMARE Island screams in to Vallejo
The great Bobby McFerrin once advised, “Don’t worry, be happy.” For a clown, that’s usually pretty easy to do, but in March of 2020, we watched the happiness get squeezed from this world like a deflating party balloon.
It all just stopped. No circus. No county fairs. No events. No parties.
What’s a party clown without a party?
Needless to say, if they weren’t already, most of us clowns went a little bit insane. That might explain the decision to dust off the giant red shoes and accept an invitation to a party at Halloween’s NightMARE Island. Little did I know that my daughter and I would be thrown into cages in containment units with others of our kind and kept like animals for the amusements of others. No matter how much we cried for help, no one would stop.
Well, OK, maybe Chuckles the Clown has a complicated back story but it helps to put yourself, as a scare actor, in the mindset to embody the character and really sell it.
When Halloween’s NightMARE Island opened on Saturday at the new location, a massive old machine shop building at 116 Railroad Ave. on Mare Island, things were a little hectic.
“Did you turn everything on?” Priscilla Silva-Fisher shouted from the makeup chair as the bones of a skeleton were painted on her face.
Actors frantically searched through costume racks and others worked on their own makeup in mirrors sitting on the floor.
“Do I put blood on this?” an actor asked as he held up a costume. Of course, was the resounding answer.
“Has anybody seen my sledgehammer?” another asked as she searched through the prop area.
With all the hoops the crew
from Halloween’s NightMARE Island had to jump through to make the haunt happen this year, they may as well have been in a circus. From bringing in their own electricity to busting through a laundry list of fire inspection requirements, the show went on — mostly without a hitch.
Through all the screaming, running and one woman dropping her phone, in the end, everyone got what they came for. Good clean fun.
Not everyone passing through the haunt had a smile on their face. After all, Halloween’s NightMARE Island is not for the faint of heart. But sitting in the corner, holding a baby clown was my 10-year-old daughter, Evangeline, grinning from ear to ear.
And it wasn’t because she had a smile literally painted on her face.
“I creeped that guy out so bad,” she said as she rocked the baby in her arms.
Meanwhile, it was Eva’s first time volunteering to work in a scare house, and it won’t be the last. As soon as the night was over, an exhausted Eva wanted to know when we were coming back to work in a different part of the haunt. I knew she was hooked. She had the scare bug. In fact, we will be back on Saturday with new creepy characters to bring to life.
The day after working the haunt, my voice sounded like I was a pack-a-day smoker, my feet felt like they may just completely fall off and I had muscles hurting that I didn’t even know I had. However, when Eva finally got out of bed at 11:30 and couldn’t stop talking about how much fun she had, it made all my aches and pains melt away. Not only did we have quite the life adventure, but I got to spend time with my daughter, who really seems to be growing up to fast.
For tickets and more information about Halloween’s NightMARE Island, including info on the 5th Annual NorCal HearseCon, Crypt Sale and how to volunteer, visit app.hauntpay.com/events/