It's 6 p.m. on a Saturday night, and the backstage area of Rocky Point Haunted House is a beehive of activity.
Cast members already in full costume walk around chatting with friends. Rocky Point staff members oversee last-minute details. A team of makeup artists is getting the remainder of the 100-plus actors it takes to staff Rocky Point ready with elaborate makeup, some in full prosthetic masks, such as Davy Jones, one of the stars of the haunted house's newest attraction — Pirates of the Scare-ibbean.
Cydney Neil, director and producer of Rocky Point, supervises each activity, answering questions, offering advice and dressed in full costume herself. Tonight she's a pirate captain.
As 6:40 rolls around, the time comes for the cast to warm up. Cast members do stretching exercises, warm up their voices and have a little fun, turning up the music for a short dance party. A brief meeting is held at 7 p.m. and then actors are released to take their places before the haunted house opens to the public at 7:30 p.m.
This is all routine for Neil, who has been running Rocky Point Haunted House for more than 20 years. "It's such a science, what we do," she said. "At this point we've gotten really, really good at it."
This season is bittersweet for Neil as Rocky Point will be closing its doors forever after Scream Break in May 2007. The reason the haunted house is closing is complicated and can't be answered without looking at it in a deeper way, Neil said. "Why it's ending is a difficult question to answer. I have to talk about it in a spiritual sense," she said. "I could just say I'm retiring, but I feel like I'm robbing a lot of people of the story. ... It came together chapter by chapter and piece by piece over 20 years."
Looking back, Neil realized that she opened Rocky Point for a specific purpose, which she didn't see or understand in the beginning. That purpose was to help nurture, heal and develop a particular group of struggling youngsters through the Youth Theater Program.
The program aims to teach young actors and actresses the theater arts. The majority of those in the program range from 16-25 years old and participate in acting classes during the summer before Rocky Point opens. Thousands have participated in the program.
"We have over 100 positions to fill every night," Neil said, "and we have over 200 kids to draw from. We're never lacking for interested kids. It's pretty amazing what happens here. The kids ... range from straight-A students at private schools to homeless kids."
The dark hallways of the haunted house have provided the perfect place for these kids to find acceptance and love and to participate in something greater than themselves, Neil said.
"It's wonderful to watch them grow as actors and as human beings," said Fran Pruyn, casting director. "For me, it's really great to watch the cast grow in professionalism and discipline. ... To (have)100 people that show up every night, they're very dedicated to doing what is a difficult job."
Neil feels that closing Rocky Point is necessary to allow the youth in the program to put the skills they have learned to use in other places for their own and others' good. "I wouldn't have stuck with it and sacrificed the rest of my life if I hadn't understood that this is something really, really special," Neil said. "I want to give them every single thing I can possibly give them before I go.
"This is a tremendous foundation for them ... Hopefully, I've instilled some things in them over the years that will take root. I'm excited to see that happen."
The more than 60,000 square-foot haunted house has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a small spook alley in the once famous Rocky Point Restaurant in Ogden. It has received numerous awards, including being named the No. 1 Haunted Attraction in the Country, Best Recreational Business in Utah, Most Outstanding Commercial Attraction and Best Indoor Haunted Attraction in America. More than 50,000 people visit the haunted house every year.
Neil has worked to make Rocky Point as professional as possible with over 50 elaborate, interactive sets, many inspired by movies, for thrill-seekers to enjoy. Although it would have been easy this year to keep all the sets the same, Neil wanted to continue her reputation for excellence and go out with a bang with the Pirates of the Scare-ibbean exhibit.
"I really feel like everything I wish I would have done I'm doing — a new program, new sets, and all the changes," Neil said. "I'm getting to wrap a business up so hopefully, neatly, and be able to control the ending."
If you go
What: Rocky Point Haunted House
Where: 3400 S. State
When: through Oct. 31
Hours: Tuesday-Thursday, 7:30-10:30 p.m; Friday and Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-midnight
How much: $16 adults, $8 children ages 6-12, children under 6 free
Web: www.rockypointhauntedhouse.com
E-mail: twalquist@desnews.com