Process of Creativity

The creative process is different for each of us creative types. I have been in haunts where it was obvious to me that a single mind ruled and only it had input. This inhibited the haunt from becoming as good as it could. Then on the other side of the coin is the haunt where there is no apparent theme and complete lack of control. Now that I have a permanent location I can invest more time in improving my haunt, the intensity of its scenes and increasing the quality of my actors.

One haunt I visited in '98 had such poor control that it was dangerous and the actors were completely out of hand. Four times in this haunt actors that were determined to get a reaction out of me touched me. This jump up in your face, block my path and demand I react is Stupid and Dangerous.

One of the things I like about my haunt (Hey, its my article) is the individuality of its progressive creativity. I have a core group of actors. They return each year and (for what ever reason) prefer to do the same event over and over. Early on in the season they get to play and do other things, but at crunch time they go to their favorite scenes and work them.

My haunt flourishes on improvisation and before you say yours does too, pay attention. Improvisation is much more than making it up as you go along. It is the ability to work within certain parameters and to excel. It is teamwork. As the creative director of my haunt I set the parameters, provide the props, sets, music, lighting and create the customer path through the scene. I, also, use the natural talents of my actors. And unlike many haunts I have visited, I do use real actors.

What follows is a radical example of my creative style. I present this example to suggest to others ways to achieve depth in their attractions. In March of '98 I began training a new batch of younger performers. A few of these had worked with me before and knew that I was up to something. The training came in the guise of The Midnight Movie "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". I provided all the props, effects lighting, soundboard and other misc. items. The troupe grew and the show became a major success and is still running. The troupe changes as do we all. These performers played a major role in the Halloween production, but they were not done.

I was preparing them for much more, Murder Mystery Dinner Theater, Corn style. Saturday December 12 is the most interesting and challenging event to date. We were hired to do a Company Christmas Murder Dinner Party. I use a scale of one to ten in levels of intensity for designing the event. I explained the scale to the Bankers that hired us. At first they ordered a safe five, conservative, but the next day they changed it to a NINE. I explained that the only thing that does not happen in a Nine is the 'F' word and nudity, that all else is fair game. They said OK. (As to what it is that I do, I will not reveal, but suffice it to say that one couple left the room during the murder sequence and did not return)

The creative process moves into full gear. I needed a cast of eight. I created stereotypical characters and cast accordingly. Each actor was given an extreme to play, which other characters it could interact with, relationships to these characters and props.

The scene. Actually this event began two weeks before the dinner. Rumors were started via telephone calls, memos and special delivery packages that their company was to merge with another company. The new owner would be at the Christmas Party. Employees had to complete a survey (important to our development as this information was used to select which of the employees were to have evidence planted on them). By the party the buzz was considerable. In a post show interview I learned that only two employees thought something screwy was going on, several others refused to believe it, but more than half fell for it hook, line and sinker.

The guy taking over the company and his wife attended along with his secretary and bodyguard. The guy was murdered at the end of dinner, in front of everyone. Santa happened to be a cop making some extra money and eventually solved the crime. Along the way the cast of eight worked singularly and as a team. Each was responsible for furthering the plot line and being their character, however, each was also responsible for creative initiative. This vehicle materialized as interruptions of the investigation. We had five musical numbers during the show that paralleled the plot, shed light on who might have done it and thoroughly embarrassed many of the guests.

When the event was over the guests had cheered, jeered, applauded, laughed and turned several shades of red. The original spontaneous creative bits inserted by the cast made the show. You see, this entire event was unscripted, rehearsed once as a walk through and then executed. The detective kept the show on track and provided cue lines for planned events, but the inter-reactions were as real and natural as could be. None of us had any idea what any one of the others was going to do, so when it was done we were really reacting as if we had never seen it before, because we had never seen it before.

So what you say? I enjoy a live audience. It is the most fantastic thing to work with. It is one of the reasons I look forward to October each year. But most haunts abuse this honor, they treat customers as dollar bills only, deliver a by the book show and move on. Creating situations where the customers are treated individually and given a show scene by scene for them is more fun for my cast and me. True during crank through this is not always possible, but it is a goal. Using an individuals name in a group is tried and true, but how many actors change what they are doing in a scene as they see that it does not work to something that does? Or, they see that it is working and modify it to make it more intense? Haunts that I have visited are not fine-tuned; they are (for the most part) coarse and cater to the uneducated customer. Competition is increasing and an improved show presented by the actors is now required, if you wish to survive.

I heard more negative comments about my competition this year than ever before. True some of these people may have been trying to be nice, but I worked the gate, I watched them enter and exit and I talked to more than 70% of my crowd. The in your face, yell and scream, blood and guts, chain saw and chains are fine for the screamers. What about the rest of your audience, don't they deserve more bang for their buck?

JB Corn

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