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Genell McClendon

Junior Joe Lozano directs set construction in the fine arts hallway.

After having to take a year off because of COVID-19, Mustang Theatre is back and ready to scare at “Sachse’s School of Screams: Conspiracy.” 

“I’m so excited because I did this my freshman year,” junior Zoë Dempsey said. “It was such a fun experience, and I’m glad that I get to do it again. We had a ton of fun [acting and scaring], we threw our voices out, and gave it all we got.”

Theatre teachers Libby Rotan and Joseph Murdock combined their classes to pull off the haunted house.

“We’ll have about 200 students involved in either the set up or the actual acting,” Rotan said. 

The tech theatre, musical theatre, theatre production and acting classes have all worked together to manage and perform at the “Sachse School of Screams.”

“We have a lot of people in theatre production and other theatre classes that are really helpful in making the set,” sophomore Reagan Hall said.

There are 29 rooms in the haunted house, running from the auditorium, through all of the classrooms in the fine arts hall, to the cafeteria, and ending in the 100s hallway. 

“Setting up [and planning the haunted house] has been fun,” sophomore Asher Garcia said. “It’s a good way to connect with people from different theatre classes, and we’re a big family.”

Each room in the haunted house has a theme. Visitors to the haunted house can choose from one of two paths to take.

One path focuses on phobias such as clowns, claustrophobia and heights.

“I think the circus room is pretty scary, because you know, lots of people are scared of clowns,” sophomore Laurie Gooch said.

The other path is more of a fantasy path, including the Netflix show “Squid Game” and the movie series “The Purge” where you might be chased. 

The “Squid Game” room features one of the popular games from the Netflix show: Red Light, Green Light.

“We were at a shortage of rooms so we decided that we wanted to bring in a room that everyone would know because “Squid Game” is trending right now,” Gooch said. “We thought it would be a nice addition to bring in something that people recognized, and would be fun for everybody that was coming.”

The haunted house is open Oct. 29 and 30 from 6-11 p.m. There is also a scare free hour on Saturday from 4:30-5:30 p.m. for people and little kids who scare easily. 

“We won’t have any jump scares,” Murdock said. “The lighting won’t be creepy and scary. It’s all environmental.”

Tickets are $5 and can be purchased online or at the door for cash only.