On October 25, Irvington’s Performing Arts Club hosted its annual Halloween-themed event, Valhaunted. The event took place in the Valhalla theater from 6:30 P.M. to 10:30 P.M.  and featured a potluck, an Open-Mic, and a screening of the movie Beetlejuice. At the start of the event, people came dressed up in costumes ranging from The Joker to KFC’s Colonel Sanders. They were then invited to the stage by officers to sing a song of their choice. 

Almost every student that went up for an Open-Mic performance said they were unprepared but went on to blow the audience away. Traditionally Open-Mic involves karaoke, but students Alyssa Viray (11) and Finn Cumberworth (11) got creative and reenacted a scene from the HBO show Barry. While students were performing, everyone in the room would clap and show their support for them. At one point, everyone in the room was singing along with Mr. Ballin, the club’s advisor, who stepped up on stage to sing “Science Fiction/Double Picture” from The Rocky Horror Show. 

Valhaunted has always been a fun way to get the club’s members to get together and bond. In the past, the club used to have a haunted house but due to a lack of visitors, they changed to a movie night. This year they decided to get a little more creative and combined a movie night with karaoke. Co-President Anika Goel (12) saw a significant increase in the number of people that attended after changing the activities at the event. This year more than 20 students participated at Valhaunted. 

“I think it went really well. I know I always loved Valhaunted and I think people genuinely enjoyed it this year too.” Goel said. 

Many of the attendees had great fun. One of the attendees, Andrea Toral (12) enjoyed the open-mic performances but wished she’d heard about the event sooner. 

The Performing Art Club’s publicity officer, Frankie Jensen (12) liked that people outside of the drama department came to the event, but in the future, she would like more people to come to the event. She plans on posting more posters throughout the school to encourage more people to attend.

“I wish more people from the school would come out to events like this because it’s another way to bring the school together.” Jensen said.

In the second half of the event, the club screened the classic horror movie Beetlejuice. The movie was voted on by the officers of the club and since it had recently been turned into a broadway musical, they thought it was fitting for the night. Many of the students were already familiar with the movie but were nevertheless excited to watch it all over again. All of the students enjoyed the movie and it was a good ending to a night filled with laughter and just a little bit of fear.