Ghost Walk (2007)

WRITTEN BY: Lake Country Players
PERFORMED AT: Montour Falls, NY
PERFORMED ON: October 6, 2007 (5pm-8pm)
DIRECTOR: Lake Country Players
PRODUCED BY: Lake Country Players
GUIDES:
* Rich Little
* Michelle Benjamin
GHOSTS:
* CATHERINE MONTOUR- Emily Wickham
* JOSEPH BRANDT- Andy Blanchard
* CHARLES COOK- Gary Yoggy
* FIANCEE- Sarah Butler
* ELBERT COOK- David A. Scott
* Carley Benjamin
* Jane Daum
* C.J. Husted
* Cassie Cole
* MRS. CLAWSON- Sandi Hilton
* DR. CLAWSON- Tim Benjamin
* DAUGHTER- Ashley Cole
* JT McKEG- Adam Zimmer
* OPERA SINGER- Holly Campbell

PLOT: A historic walking tour of Montour Falls and Watkins Glen, with actors portraying the ghosts of various figures from local history.

HISTORY: The ghost walk had become an annual performance given by the Lake Country Players, and was part of the Montour Fall's "Falls Harvest Festival". The festival itself was a day's worth of activities starting at noon, and ending at 9:30pm. Along with the ghost walk, there was live music, contests, and fireworks.
As the tour guides ("Beauty and the Beast" co-stars Michelle and Rich) led the group around town, the actors utilized general historical information to improvise their own scenes. Cast as alleged bank embezzler Elbert Cook Jr, I ad-libbed a surprise meeting with my wife and daughter, persuading them to hide out with me in South America. My co-stars and I chose to give it a rather humorous slant. Since I'd forgotten to bring my black shoes, I decided to leave Elbert shoeless, giving me three hours of wet feet (it had rained shortly before). Also, with tours being 20-30 minutes long, there was plenty of downtime for the actors. But it was a fun time, with warm weather and plenty of good conversation between co-stars. During a few lulls, Elbert would check in on the train wreck survivors down the block (including "Audition for Murder" director Jane Daum), as well as his more prominent uncle Charles (played by frequent co-star Gary Yoggy).
Prior to the Ghost Walk, I'd felt beaten down by a somewhat uneven first half of 2007, a hectic summer of performing one show while writing two others, and giving up possible roles in "The Full Monty" and "The Wizard of Oz" to direct a quickly-canceled Fall production of "Dead Air". Fortunately, LCP had presented me with the opportunity to pursue more non-conventional, less stressful shows like the Ghost Walk, leaving my socks soaked, but my spirits lifted.

OTHER INFO: The Falls Harvest Festival