Beloved Haunted Theater At Brookdale College Returns For 19th Year

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — As they do every Halloween season, the students at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft will put on a haunted, walk-through theater.

Brookdale is Monmouth County's community college, and the entire theater/performance space is transformed into a walk-through labyrinth of horror, with surprises around every corner. This is Brookdale's 19th year of doing the haunted theater, which has been rated among the best haunted houses in New Jersey.

The haunted theater is very popular and crowds usually line up to get in every Friday and Saturday nights all October long.

The theme this year is "Impending Doom," and walk-throughs will be from 7 to 10:30 p.m. for the following three weekends: Oct. 14 to 16, 21 to 23 and 28to 30.

It takes about 2o minutes to walk through and tickets are $20. The haunted theater is not recommended for young children. It is best for older tweens and teens. You can purchase tickets in advance here: brookdalehauntedtheater.com or at the door. There is no haunted theater on Halloween.

As far as the theme this year? Brookdale wants to know if you can muster enough might to check it out.

"Are you brave enough to take on the demented imaginations of our students' minds? Designed, built and run by past and present students, this tormented trip through body parts, evil creatures and more will redefine 'stage fright' ...FOREVER!!!"

The haunted theater brings in $35,000 in ticket sales every fall, and all of that money is put right back into the Brookdale theater program. In fact, revenue from the haunted theater helps fund the four other shows Brookdale does every year, such as their Summer Shakespeare plays and other performances.

"Back in 2003, we first had the idea, 'Hey, let's try a haunted theater.' We had 15 students who did it and 100 people showed up. Today, we have 80 students involved and last year 3,000 people came to see it," said Sherri Vanderspiegel, technical supervisor at the Brookdale Performing Arts Center, in this 2019 Patch article about the haunted theater. "We have people who came here as kids and now they're bringing their kids. It's become a family tradition."

The work of creating the Haunted Theater actually began in February. In September, she holds actor auditions; the auditions are open to all Brookdale students, not just those in the theater program.

"It really gives the students a completely different way to look at theater: You're not just reciting a monologue or performing in an hour-long play. Here, you have no more than 3-5 seconds to really scare somebody and have them walk away shaking," said Vanderspiegel. "Also, for our technical students, this is not just traditional sound and lighting. It's much more challenging and requires a lot more creativity."

Although Vanderspiegel does bring in some help from professional set designers, nearly the entire production, from start to finish, is done by local Monmouth County teens.

The Haunted Theater is so popular that many of Brookdale's alumni come back every year to help set up.

"We've definitely had students go dumpster diving for set design materials," laughs Vanderspiegel. "We're always looking for pallets and things like creepy dolls. And I'm constantly getting calls from people who live near the school: 'Do you want this creepy old chandelier?' The answer is always yes!"