CAST
(in alphabetical order)
KAREN ABRAMS (Narrator) is a school psychologist with an undergraduate background in dance and theatre. She has danced in productions of Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, The Nutcracker, and The Beggar’s Opera.
BRENDA BARY (Violet) is an accomplished vocalist. She sings with the Mendelssohn Club and is a soloist and section leader at the Church of the Good Samaritan Episcopal Church in Paoli. She has also been a guest vocalist with the Rose Tree Pops Symphony. A seasoned thespian, and the narrator for an early Halloween show, she is delighted to return this year as Violet, the flower seller with a shady family background.
ILENE DYLLER (Madame DuVive) burst upon the scene in 1996 as Madame DuVive in Séance at Midnight, reprising that role the following year in The Medium and the Message. She served as narrator for The Curse of Anubis, played Adler, the second-in-command astronaut, in 3001: The Shadow Planet, and was Marta, a night watchperson, in Night of the Golem. She was Her Majesty, the Queen, in The Alchemist’s Elixir and Augusta Brown in last year’s Portrait of Evil. When she’s not linking worlds, Ilene is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Center City and Swarthmore.
ROB HOLAWAY (Werewolf) was the “bloody hand” at the window in last year’s show, Portrait of Evil. This year he graduates to the semi-speaking (or growling) role of the werewolf. When he isn’t busy frightening the townsfolk, he is a doctoral candidate in Temple University’s Clinical Psychology program.
MARK SCHENKER (Sam) narrated A Knightmare to Remember and came into his own as Parkins the Butler in Séance at Midnight. Mark was the dry-ice wrangler for The Medium and the Message and has been a staple of our crowd-control team for many years. He is also the father of two of our actors–David Kornblith (Arthur) in A Knightmare to Remember and Molly Schenker, the narrator for Portrait of Evil and Krakkit the House-Elf in Hogwarts for Sale! By day, Dr. Schenker plays a psychologist in the fictional drama “Real Life.” In an alternate reality, the real Mark Schenker emerges as the noted “Mojo Mark” of the classic rock band Stone Age (see http:///www.stoneagerock.us), available for parties, weddings, and other occasions of inappropriate behavior.
DENISE SLOAN (Ella) recently moved into the Mt. Airy community with her husband and young child. This is her first stage venture, but she reports having enjoyed the experience. In real life, Dr. Sloan is a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at Temple University.
PRODUCTION STAFF AND CREW
(in alphabetical order)
TIM ACKERSON (setup/teardown) has worked on the crew since he moved to the area in 2000. A friend for over 30 years, he is the only person on the current production (besides the Efrans) to have seen any of the decorated hallways in Rochester that started this tradition of productions. In ordinary life, Tim is a Research Project Manager for the School of Nursing of the University of Pennsylvania.
DANIEL EFRAN (assistant producer, associate director, scriptwriter) has been involved in all facets of the Halloween productions since 1974, most prominently directing and acting as well as designing and constructing special effects. He starred as the hero in The Lost Temple of the Maya, made a memorable impression as the poignant yet violent Rat Boy in Side-Show Spectacular, and has co-directed and co-written most of the shows since 1988, doing much of the work long-distance, commuting and communicating from Pittsburgh, where he is an engineer specializing in user interface design. He has also written original music for several of the shows and has videotaped a number of productions. Sometimes described as having a Cecil B. deMille complex, he was saying things like “All we need is a laser” (eventually borrowed from a physics lab for Space Pod) long before lasers were readily available for a few dollars at Staples. Daniel is the father of Nicholas Adric Efran, whose first Halloween production was our swan song.
ELSA EFRAN (associate producer) is primarily responsible for candy, catering, costumes, critiquing, crowd control, data, editing, errand running, graphics, painting, papier-mâché, publicity, research, supplies, and last-minute odds and ends. She is still hoping that someday there will be a Nobel Prize for gofers. When not consumed with Halloween, she works at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society keeping track of people and plants for the Philadelphia Flower Show. Also a free-lance book editor and administrator for the Philadelphia Area Group Psychotherapy Society, she feels naked without a computer and a red pen.
JAY EFRAN (producer, director, scriptwriter) has been involved in stagecraft and magic since his youth. Little did he know that turning brown wrapping paper into “rocks” in order to create a witch’s cave in a hallway in Rochester, New York, in 1968 would lead to masterminding 35 years of Halloween productions. He is legendary for resurrecting a number of arcane ways of making people and objects appear, disappear, emit smoke, and burst into flames—often simultaneously. Jay is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Temple University, is in private practice, and writes on psychological issues for a variety of professional publications.
FRANK FARRELL (setup/crowd management) traveled all the way from Long Island to assist in the early stages of set construction and made the trip again to organize the crowds on the performance nights. In real life he is a mild-mannered counselor for the Suffolk County Police Department’s Employee Assistance Program—but at night he protects the world from alien invasion with his good friend Richard Fernandez.
RYAN P. IRELAND (set construction), who is a Student Financial Services Representative at Chestnut Hill College, was very helpful in building the structures of our Eastern European village. He reports having enjoyed this opportunity to work with his hands for a change.
MIRIAM KATES (set construction) is a recent transplant from Colorado, although she is originally from northern New Jersey. She has a Masters degree in electrical engineering and is currently employed as the sorcerer’s apprentice for John Siemiarowski at Electrical Wizardry, Inc.
JONATHAN KEOGH (large banners) has previously worked for us on crowd management. He began his special-events career as a child, helping his father work on the Gimbels’ Thanksgiving Day Parade. He is now the production coordinator for the Philadelphia Flower Show and also operates his own company, United Signs.
FRANK J. MAY (set construction) has been an audience member for a number of past shows, along with his wife and daughter. This year he called to offer his help and was immediately given assignments such as painting and assembling various set components, including the roof of the brick house. Frank runs a small family business manufacturing and repairing dental instruments (Frank J. May, Inc.).
TONY POLIAFICO (illusion worker) joined the company last year, enabling some of the backstage magic to happen then and now. Tony is completing a doctoral degree in clinical psychology at Temple University.
MARK R. SELLERS (special effects designer) is a pilot and occasional lawyer who lives and works in the Awbury Arboretum. He designed the shrunken head for last year’s Portrait of Evil and the self-lighting candle for the present show.
JOHN SIEMIAROWSKI (associate producer, head carpenter, head electrician) has been an indispensable part of our productions ever since he assisted with set design, construction, lighting, and special effects for Séance at Midnight. As Master of Electrical Wizardry, he has rarely heard a wild idea of Jay’s or Daniel’s that he hasn’t been able to bring to life. His daughter, Leah, was a child ghost in Séance at Midnight and a damsel in distress in The Curse of Anubis. His son, Jake, made a cameo appearance in Hogwarts for Sale!
BECCA STALLINGS (scriptwriter, crowd control) joined the crew in 1998 as a prop-painting assistant and attendance taker. In 1999, for Side-Show Spectacular, she served as head plastering assistant, off-set Rat Boy wrangler, and attendance taker. She was one of the scriptwriters for Hogwarts for Sale! as well as an elf makeup artist. For 3001: The Shadow Planet, in true show-business tradition, she stepped into the role of narrator at the last minute to replace an ailing cast member. In real life, she is a data manager for the Pittsburgh Youth Study and is the mother of the cast mascot, Nicholas Adric Efran.
RIVKAH WALTON (set construction, crowd management) has been working with the group for the last three years, doing everything from painting scenery to mixing special-effects chemicals. The other 51 weeks of the year she is a sculptor and nonprofit administrator.
ADDITIONAL CROWD MANAGEMENT SPECIALISTS
Tony Abrams, Richard Fernandez, Steven Hatzai, Sharon Ross, Jordu Schell, Molly Schenker
TEAR DOWN CREW
Tim Ackerson, Rivkah Walton, Frank May, Rob Holaway, Tony Abrams, Mark Schenker
Efran Entertainment Group Mascot: Nicholas Efran