Thanks to an expanded budget and the success of last year, the whole Auditorium will be used this year. It will be open from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and 8-11 p.m. on Sunday. The event opened Thursday.

“Not only do the students who put it on … and the department have a great time working on it but we love to present this kind of art to a very wide group of people who appreciate the kind of fun that is a Haunted Aud,” Bouchard said.

The alleged haunting in the Auditorium involves a little boy who laughs and bounces a ball. LoGrasso and Bouchard said they haven’t seen his ghost but have heard creaks and noises.

“One night I wanted to stay and practice in one of our practice rooms,” LoGrasso said. “I was in there for like two minutes. I shut off the lights and ran out of the building, I was so scared.”

The theme for this year’s Haunted Aud follows the idea of the whole Auditorium actually being haunted. The Auditorium’s many dark corridors and long hallways will be used strategically, said Bouchard.

“You’re going to expect to walk through an actual show, a haunted costume shop, makeup design, wardrobe areas — you know what you’d expect to see in a theater during a production and everything has an evil and terrifying twist to it,” Bouchard said.

About 600 people attended last year’s production and the group hopes to increase that number to about 1,500 this year, Bouchard said.

Gamma Phi Beta sisterhood chair and communication junior Caroline Ambrose only lasted four minutes in the Haunted Aud.
“I arranged this (for the sorority) — I thought it’d be a really good idea because I was like, ‘they’re students and can’t be that scary’ but they were really good.”Advertising also has increased this year, LoGrasso said.

“It’s been more organized because we know what we’re doing,” LoGrasso said. “Word of mouth has been amazing, it’s incredible how many people know (about it).”

This event also serves as a fundraiser as proceeds are allocated throughout the department but the majority of the money will go toward the showcase trip graduating theater seniors take to New York City in the spring. On the trip, the graduating students are able to meet with agents, casting directors and producers, Bouchard said.

Theater senior Tyler Vancamp is planning on going on the trip in the spring and knows how beneficial the Haunted Aud is for fundraising.

“I know last year it raised so much (money), so this year we did more publicity so we could gain even more money so our plane ticket and our costs for food there would be taken down a little bit,” he said.

English senior Kyra Clay was scared and impressed after walking through the Auditorium.

“That was the craziest experience I’ve ever been through,” she said. “It was like every horror film in one.”