Actor Limitations and personality types


Actor type analysis. I have been in the business of haunting professionally since 1979. As a result I have worked with many different actors in haunt conditions. We have used: volunteers from our acting school (adult and child); adult volunteers from other not for profit fund raising organizations; adult volunteers from community agencies where the volunteer was required by the court to donate 'x' amount of time and paid actors.

First type of actor to avoid at all costs is those that are the executive type. Don't ask why, it is an article all by itself.

Back in my early days I put a mask on all my actors. It was not until we had a shortage of masks one busy night that I discovered the power of the unmasked face. We had a small tube of white, it had to be used by three actors. Each of the actors was made to look dead, using white makeup with black highlights around the eyes, mouth, eyebrows. One lady produced red lipstick and this was added to the outside edge of their mouths, like drooling blood.

One actor put on a cape and would stand out of sight opposite a coffin. He was rather thin, but about 6'6" tall. He was a CPM software developer. No character look in his face, actually a young looking face. Customers would enter the room, the coffin lid would begin to raise (his daughter was in the coffin), the distraction, and then he would leap into the room and go 'arggh'. People were falling all over themselves (and the coffin) trying to get away. I had to repair walls in this room several times that night. Finally I had a chance to see what they were doing and the reaction that was in the customers' faces. I moved him to the final scene and used him to scare people out the exit, more room, less damage and entertainment for those in line. He was not scary, his 'arggh' was little more than a mouse squeak and he moved stiff, yet he was nailing everyone

My other actor was doing well in his hospital scene. He was the mad doctor, gutting one of my students. He would jump up on the table and pull yards of guts out and wave them in the guest's faces. He was an accountant by day and let out his angst by night. It seems he had any number of pent up anxieties and they all came through with out a mask. People enjoyed this scene, it was not scary, but comic. The student on the table would reach up and grab his guts and try and replace them. A tug of war would develop between the doctor and his unwilling patient. They would improvise dialogue. "That's more than my appendix" or "I said tummy tuck!" etc.

My ex-wife would act upon occasion. It was determined that she was better at taking the money than acting. It seems the customers were more interested in getting her phone number. She played a witch stirring her cauldron and sampling the brew. Great scene, no scare. Anyway, I was learning.

The other actor was a 'wild and crazy guy'. His brother was less than exciting and their mother proved to be one of the exceptions to the wimpy female rule. Macho males ran out of her scene (playfully called the 'Living Room from Hell'). I am not sure what it was that they were doing, but the review from the Dallas Morning News spent more time on this scene than any other. I would try and sneak a peak but never managed to actually see an entire sequence. The un-exciting brother was the norm for mellow brother experience till a couple of years ago when a married couple joined us. The husband was small, quiet and looked to be harmless. But, when he bounced around the room with a scythe and shouting, well lets say it really un-nerved most guests. He would suddenly stop right next to a moving group and make eye contact, begin speaking softly, smile and lick his lips. Need I say more?

GuardRoom Dialogue