Lake Compounce Hiring for All-New Phantom Fall Fest Halloween Event

Bristol - Hiring for Halloween continues at Lake Compounce as America’s First Amusement Park prepares for the return of a scary Halloween for the first time since 2019. Phantom Fall Fest will be the biggest and boldest Halloween offering in the history of the Bristol amusement park.

Phantom Fall Fest will be an all-new day to night experience that allows guests to play all day with family-friendly rides and activities and then stay for the park’s transformation into a house of horrors at 6:00 p.m. The nighttime hours are designed for those brave enough to be frightened all night with walk-through haunts and the park’s most scream-inducing attractions. As the sun goes down, the scare actors come out and the park's four haunted houses and three scare zones will open for hair-raising haunts.

The park is hiring now for roughly 150 scare actors, makeup artists and costumers to bring Phantom Fall Fest to life.

“As we get ready for our first-ever Phantom Fall Fest, we’re increasing pay rates for scare actors to as much as $16 per hour to form the most terrifically terrifying team,” said General Manager Jeffery Davis. “Increased pay combines with free meal perks and tickets options we offer for seasonal Lake Compounce staff to make this a great place to work – not just in fall, but all year round.”

The first round of auditions were held on Aug. 3 and I was invited to observe the second round on Aug. 13. Attendees could audition for acting positions, or apply for other roles in the park including rides, food and beverage, makeup artists and more.

The open casting call for performers aged 16 and up was led by director PJ Griffith. Griffith is with RWS Entertainment Group. This is the team that is covering everything about the Phantom Fall Fest, from the audition process, to the costume and makeup design and up to the design of the sets currently being built in New York.

Lake Compounce season ticket holders with good memories will remember the live entertainment that was offered in the large ballroom and in other locations at the park during the summer season. All of this was organized by RWS.

Hannah Lavenski came out early to audition as part of the first group of ten. She is a recent graduate of the Waterbury Arts Magnet School, which she attended since grade six. Lavenski has studied dancing since the age of two and demonstrated her movement skills throughout the audition process.

Lavenski appeared in the 2017 WAMS production of “Steel Pier,” the stellar “Memphis,” and “Willy Wonka.” She earned a Halo Award as a senior for Best Dancing in her school’s production of “All Shook Up.” The Terryville resident will attend the University of Connecticut Waterbury branch in the fall where she will major in Actuarial Science.

Saturday was Lavenski first audition at Lake Compounce and, if she is cast, will have an easy commute to The Lake to portray her character.

Griffith facilitated the hour-long audition process as a safe zone designed to build an ensemble of actors. The performers easily moved through the warm up improv games while some up tempo music played, and even a solo exercise, all with sincere encouragement by the high-energy director.

Actors of all ages and experience came out for the second round of auditions, but young men made a strong showing at what was essentially an improv class that I watched. Several of the auditioners are current employees at the park. The general manager explained that the beauty of working at a theme park is that it offers flexibility in the roles employees can perform throughout the year, and even from year to year.

At the end of the three hours of auditions on Saturday, the production team hoped to have filled half of the available roles. Watch The Lake’s website and social media for more audition dates. If you are interested in “ kicking the fear into gear” apply online now at LakeCompounce.com/Employment. No previous experience is required.

I won’t reveal the details of the design of Phantom Fall Fest, but rest assured that when it takes over the whole park, it will be too scary for me. It opens for the season on Sept. 30 and runs through Oct. 30. LakeCompounce.com/Phantom-Fall-Fest.