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Many try, 825 so far, to make the cut for Howl-O-Scream. Their talents varied, but only one talent was needed: to be loud.
By BRADY DENNIS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 9, 2002
Before the screams come dreams.
And so the dreamers arrived Tuesday evening -- old, young, black, white, short, tall -- to audition for roles in Busch Gardens' Howl-O-Scream event.
Some needed the extra $8 an hour. Others were drawn by the promise of elaborate costumes. But most simply relished the chance to scare the daylights out of people.
Almost all of them came from normal lives -- computer consultant, student, housewife, church choir singer.
But what they did inside a warehouse off Bougainvillea Avenue was anything but ordinary.
They screamed. They shrieked. They wailed. They snarled. They bristled. They growled. Whatever they did, they did it loudly.
"If I do this," said Howl-O-Scream co-chairwoman Lisa Mezzei, plugging a finger in each ear, "you might want to cover your ears."
Good advice.
Mezzei and unit supervisor Scott Swenson have seen more than 825 people scream their way through auditions this year.
"This brings in people who don't usually think of themselves as performers," Swenson said. "I like people who like being scary. I look for enthusiasm, people willing to give it their all."
Tuesday night, Swenson ran the auditions like a drill sergeant barking commands to an army of maniacs. Among his orders:
Pretend to stack books as if you are criminally insane. As if you are being stalked. As if you are a rabid dog. Make the scariest sound you can muster. Recite Mary Had a Little Lamb as if you are a murderous, backwoods hillbilly.
His troops obliged gladly -- no props, no costumes, just a healthy dose of imagination and a healthy lack of inhibition.
Few of them were more intense -- or more intensely loud -- than housewife Susan Harper.
"It's exciting. You can get out some hostility. You can let off some steam," said the mother of seven, still sweating from her performance. "Half of my family is bikers and gypsies, so something like this fits for me."
Harper also was hoping to make the cut so she could get free Howl-O-Scream tickets for her children.
"I hope I can bring them here and put the fear of God in them," she said, "to let them know there's something creepier than their mom."
Meanwhile, roller skating instructor Marilyn Turner waited in the hallway for her chance to wreak havoc.
"I can be scary any time, just ask the kids I work with," said Turner, gray-haired and grinning and full of confidence. "If you've ever worked a Friday night at a skating rink, this isn't much different. That's a scary thing itself."
Mezzei and Swenson admit they've become jaded, that the horrors of Howl-O-Scream don't scare them much anymore.
These days they derive pleasure from following patrons around, reveling in their every flinch, and also from judging the flocks of dreamers that come to each audition, hoping they have the lungs and the imagination to make a part-time career as a goon.
Said Swenson: "I see beauty in really big scares."
Howl-O-Scream runs through Nov. 2 at Busch Gardens. People chosen from Tuesday's auditions will primarily be used as fill-ins. Auditions for more substitutes are scheduled for Monday, and again on Oct. 21 from 6 to 9 p.m. at 3605 E Bougainvillea Ave. For more information, call the Audition Hotline at (813) 987-5164 or (813) 987-5302.