What’s up: Celebrating Halloween

The Rocky Horror Show

• Asper Centre for Theatre & Film,
• Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m.
• Tickets $30 at dramatictheatre.net, 204-452-1700

The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the 1975 cult classic starring Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon, turns 50 this year, and community theatre group the Dramatic Theatre Company is celebrating the milestone by mounting a production of The Rocky Horror Show, Richard O’Brien’s 1973 stage musical on which the movie is based.

Directed by company founder Justin Joseph, along with cast members Laurie Fischer and Alanna Penner, the production features an all-Manitoban cast led by Lorraine James as Frank-N-Furter.

Saturday and Sunday’s shows are sold out, but you can still spend Friday night — a.k.a Halloween — doing The Time Warp while tickets last.

— Jen Zoratti

 

 

Boo at the Zoo: After, After Dark 18+ Night

• Assiniboine Park Zoo, 2595 Roblin Blvd.
• Friday, 6-11 p.m.
• Tickets $17.50 + tax at assiniboinepark.ca

The last night of the zoo’s month-long Halloween celebration is an adults-only occasion with a costume contest, live music and, for the first two hours of the night, alcoholic drink samples on offer throughout the grounds.

Local band Jivetown will play three sets in the large tent at 7 p.m., 8 p.m. and 9.15 p.m. The tent also hosts the costume contest where judges will award prizes in three categories — Spook-tacular Peoples’ Choice, Couples to Die For Award and Fang-tastic Group Award.

This is an 18+ timed-entry event. Final entry is at 8:30 pm.

— AV Kitching

 

 

The DND Improv Show Presents: Horror at Sorrowtide Manor

• Gas Station Arts Centre, 445 River Ave.
• Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.
• Tickets $20 plus fees for Friday and Saturday

The longtime Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival faves from the DND Improv Show return for an on-the-fly horror event that’s as sure to be gut-bustingly hilarious as it is spooky.

On Friday and Saturday, the Gas Station Arts Centre will be transformed into the oh-so-creepy Sorrowtide Manor; the protagonists, a quartet of teens (a vampire, a knight, a werewolf and a witch), are there for a party, but when they inadvertently awaken a vengeful ghost, the night goes from fun to fright real quick.

Unfolding like a slasher flick, the show follows our heroes as they are hunted down, trying to discover Sorrowtide Manor’s dark secrets before the sinister spirit has its way with them. Will they succeed? You’ll have to muster up your courage to discover the answer.

Like the DND Improv Show’s fringe performances, each of the two nights is episodic — Saturday’s show picks up where Friday’s left off, meaning you can attend both nights and get two totally different experiences. Tickets are $20 plus fees for each night; the event is a fundraiser for the Gas Station Arts Centre.

— Ben Sigurdson

 

 

Spirited fundraiser for Artbeat Studio

• Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq, 300 Memorial Blvd.
• Friday, 8 p.m. to midnight
• Tickets $20 at artbeatstudio.ca

Don your Halloween best and head down to the WAG tomorrow night for Artbeat Studio’s Ghostly Gala fundraiser.

DJs Co-op and Hunnicutt will be haunting the turntables during the spirited event, which includes a mini art market, photo booth, cash bar, candy, 50/50 raffles and prizes. Creative costumes encouraged.

Artbeat Studio is a non-profit focused on the healing power of art. Founded in 2004 (and celebrating its 20th anniversary this year), the organization provides free art programming and social supports for people living with mental illness.

Artbeat runs a community studio and art gallery on the second floor of Portage Place mall, where it regularly offers residencies for local artists.

Have a prior Halloween engagement? Support tickets are also available, starting at $10.

— Eva Wasney

 

 

Heebie Jeebies

• 53071 La Salle Rd. (one kilometre south of McGillvray Boulevard)
• Friday, 7 p.m to midnight
• Tickets $30 at heebie-jeebies.shop

Some people just like scaring others.

The documentary The Haunters: The Art of the Scare is all about such oddballs — the performers and designers behind that peculiar theatre known as “haunts,” from haunted houses to mazes, from mild kid-friendly stuff to “extreme” haunts involving mock kidnappings and drownings. It shows them (mostly) not as sadists, but as committed artists passionate about their macabre craft.

Manitoba also boasts a number of such artists. Offering one of the spookier — but by no means extreme — haunts is the crew behind Heebies Jeebies.

They present five grisly, campy mazes west of the city where over a hundred shrieking zombies, clowns and other familiar horror figures lunge at you suddenly from behind a foggy corner or a craggy tombstone.

Unlike some of the other haunted attractions in Manitoba, this one feels aimed at adults and mature teens, but you do see brave tweeners having fun in the mazes.

If you’ve had enough scares, enjoy the cheap hot chocolate, bonfire and food trucks.

Halloween is the last night of this year’s season, and we expect they’ll pull out all the stops for this one.

— Conrad Sweatman