Tori Nunn ’17 Scares at House of Torment

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Don’t be spooked if you run across your fellow classmates scaring you at the House of Torment this Halloween season. This is the second year of working at the House of Torment for Tori Nunn ‘17. In order to get the job you must audition and show them how scary you can be. For most that know Nunn, it seems impossible to imagine her being scary, but after auditioning she proved everybody wrong.

“Auditioning was really fun,” Nunn said. “We just went and they talked to me about what they do and then took me into a scene in one of the houses and told me they would give me five minutes and when they walk through, scare them. I didn’t have any makeup, costume or anything.”

While going in blind to attempt to impress her potential bosses, she used her flexible dancer body and revealed her strong voice to show them how scary she could really be.

“Because I’m a dancer I can do weird contortions with my body,” Nunn said.

In addition to being an actor in the houses, Nunn is also a dancer/entertainer for the people waiting in the monumental lines.

“When people are outside in line they want entertainment because you can be in line for up to two hours,” Nunn said. ”During the auditions they wanted to see how we could add in creepy movement into dance. So they gave us prompts such as pretending your hand is trying to kill you, or both of your ankles are broken–try to walk.”

Nunn’s dance experience proves to be very beneficial for this job.  

“The most fun moment I’ve had at work was when I was in full makeup, full costume and monster mode and this little girl walked up to me,” Nunn said. “I didn’t know what to do because I didn’t want to scare a little child, but she came up to me and asked if I was one of her daddy’s monsters. It turns out she was one of my boss’s daughters and isn’t scared of anything because her dad is friends with all the “monsters”, and I thought it was really cute.”

Although the House of Torment is full of terror, monsters, and everything scary, there seems to still be room for things that aren’t so scary.

“We get there at five and walk through our scenes then around 6:30 we put on our costumes,” Nunn said. “Then we wait in line to do makeup and from there if you’re going to be screaming a lot, you have to do vocal warm ups so you don’t wreck your voice.”

This may seem like a lengthy process, but each step counts. Skipping one of the processes to prepare for the long night ahead could alter your performance.

“I admit that I lost my voice the other day because I didn’t do my vocal warm ups,” Nunn said.

Although this was a minor setback, Nunn is always surrounded by the help of her co-workers.

“The process of getting ready is fun because everyone who works there is a lot of fun and we’re like a big family, we all hang out and there’s food and good company,” Nunn said.

Along with making good friends Nunn also learned useful skills that can take her far in both this business and dance.

“I learned how to do special effects makeup,” Nunn said. “I tried to be self-taught a few years ago but I wasn’t very good at it. Working here i’ve learned a lot about that and have learned a lot about acting and dancing.”

For Nunn, the House of Torment seems to provide more than just the thrill of scaring people.

“Most of my co-workers have other jobs besides this one,” Nunn said. “One of my friends is also a slam poet so every Sunday he goes and does slam poetry. I’ve met a lot of really fun people who do all kinds of things.”