"Scared Silly" Recap

The last weekend of October, audiences enjoyed ANC’s first-ever Halloween play, “Scared Silly,” a collection of hauntingly hilarious short plays.

Each spooky tale had a twist: what detention looks like for the supernatural (The Midnight Club), the "uncostumed teengager" twist (The True Meaning of Halloween), or what scares ghosts (In the Waiting Room at the Ghost Placement Agency).

The stories were introduced and woven together by teenagers telling spooky stories drawn in a notebook. The set echoed this idea--painted black and white with blue lines--as if the set pieces came to life from the notebook sketches.

There were 34 students in this ensemble cast and an additional 20 students working backstage or on technical aspects of the show. 

For this show, we chose to Spotlight the fall play director for the past 15 years, Mr. Baird Kistner. 

Mr. Kistner’s oversized voice and expressive laugh have become a fixture at the MPAC during the last 15 years. He is legendary for his pithy expressions, such as lighting “bumps of happy,” “[subtext]” “Hark!,” and “For Narnia!” These often become an integral part of the experience for the cast and crew (and end up on the back of the t-shirt!).

This will be the last ANC play directed by Mr. Kistner for a while. We congratulate him on his upcoming nuptials and are excited about his plans while simultaneously saddened by the loss of his colossal influence on our performing arts program. It was fitting that this play was filled with so many hilarious moments, so we could hear his booming laugh fill the MPAC. We will be saving a seat for you! 

Finally, thank you, as always, to our audiences, who took the time to sit and laugh with us! We would not have a show without you! 

See photos of “Scared Silly” on our Facebook page: here & here.