The Haunted Theater

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More About

• Damon Runnals
• Tammy Faye Messner

The Haunted Theater takes audiences back to 1925 for the premiere of the silent film Phantom of the Opera. Constructed as a walk-through narrative, the event leads the audience through an atmospheric tour full of cobwebs, gutted out organs, and ticking clocks, according to Damon Runnals, one of the directors of the project. Runnals says the event, which utilizes 19 actors, follows a story line set in the 1920s, and is designed to be suspenseful rather than horrific. The audience will journey to different spaces in the building, including a posh "VIP room" filled with lots of ferns and classic lamps. "It's a very creepy place," Runnals said of the Music Box. "It doesn't need actors in it to be creepy. Walking in that building at night when it's dark—it sends chills up your spine." The theater has had several transformations in its 90-year history. First a silent movie theater in the 1920s, the building once housed a Pentecostal church led by Jim and Tammy Faye Baker. Now the Music Box hosts live music, theater, and the Loring Cinema Series, recalling the name of the venue's beginnings. Garb inspired by the roaring '20s is encouraged.
Oct. 18-31, 5-11 p.m., 2010