A new scare in Frenchtown
Coming soon: Edwin Faust's Theatre of the Dead
At least he would if he were real.
The organizers of the new Theatre of the Dead haunted house, opening Friday, have concocted an elaborate back story to explain why a quaint two-story building at 1107 N. Second St. would be crawling with vengeful ghosts."Every haunted house has the chain saw guy chasing you. We're going for something different here," said art director Jeremy Powers.
The Theatre of the Dead "legend" centers on its proprietor, the fictitious actor Edwin Faust.
Faust founded the theater in 1861 and kept it open through 1937, despite 13 performers dying under bizarre circumstances. On Oct. 13, 1937, several audience members died during a performance by stage hypnotist Dr. Alfred Schrek.
Faust closed the theater for one year. He was set to reopen on Oct. 13, 1938, advertising a show that included all 13 dead performers. But Faust mysteriously disappeared before show time. He was declared dead two months later.
If local historians are scratching their heads about the "historic" Faust Theatre in Frenchtown, there is good reason.
It is all baloney.
Faust and his theater are figments from the imagination of the project's creative director Doug Kincaid, a St. Charles-based puppeteer and mascot maker.
"Having a sense of fun is what it's all about," Kincaid said. "A walk-through haunted attraction is a thrill ride on foot. It's an American tradition, like a good roller coaster."
Kincaid and Powers have created fake newspaper clippings, playbills and other memorabilia designed to sustain the illusion that the building's sordid history is real.
Powers said he hoped a more literate approach would bring in audiences that normally do not visit "cliched" haunted houses.
"Do you just want to be startled, or do you want to be really scared? Here you will get both," he said.
The haunted house will take visitors through 13 rooms, letting them witness the grisly demise and resurrection of the theater's infamous performers. It culminates with the undead Dr. Schrek re-staging his fatal hypnotism routine, taking his entranced audience on a "journey to the afterlife."
The scenes and characters will change from week to week to accommodate the fickle ghosts, Powers said.
"It's difficult to control dead people," he said.
The haunted house is the first project from Seasonal Ventures, a company comprised of St. Charles artists and businessmen.
"We want to give people a good-quality, safe, alternative activity for Halloween that showcases the uniqueness of the Frenchtown area," Kincaid said.
Theatre of the Dead will be open 36 days from Sept. 19 through Nov. 2. Operating hours are 7-11 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday; and 7 p.m.-1 a.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. General admission costs $18 per person, with student and group discounts available.
Actor Felix Silla, who played Cousin Itt on "The Addams Family" television show, will appear Sept. 19 and 20 at the haunted house.
For more information, visit www.theatreofthedead.com.
