Plenty of Halloween drama available in Macon this weekend

Looking for a little drama this Halloween weekend?

You’ve got it - and in particular, some provided by Macon Little Theatre and the Museum of Arts and Sciences and by the Grand Opera House.

There are all sorts of Halloween activities being presented across Middle Georgia through the weekend for old and young though some favorites may have been canceled due to COVID-19, but the Grand is starting the weekend off in a big way today with two showings of “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” one at 8 p.m. and the other at midnight.

Showing “Rocky Horror” is becoming a Halloween tradition at the Grand and again this year it’s $5 to get in and attendees are encouraged to dress in “Rocky Horror” fashion and will be given prop bags to help them sing, shout, mimic lines and otherwise “play along with the movie.”

To help preserve the beautifully restored theater from damage, no outside, home-made props will be allowed during either show.

Then Saturday, the Grand is taking the fun outside to the west parking lot fire escape for “Broadway Does Halloween: A Cabaret,” billed as an outdoor, socially distanced fire escape concert.

It’s the second time the Grand has used the fire escape as a stage lately and the parking lot for seating. The first was a big success with a Southern Rock theme. A short video from that event can be seen at www.thegrandmacon.com where ticketing and more information is available for the Halloween cabaret and “Rocky Horror.”The cabaret costs $15 and folks at the Grand suggest you bring lawn chairs, grab take-out from a local restaurant and enjoy it in the marked-off audience spaces.

“Broadway Does Halloween: A Cabaret” starts at 8.

Those are mostly for the bigger-ish kids looking for Halloween treats. Macon Little Theatre and the Museum of Arts and Sciences is providing something geared toward real kids and families this year, a joint effort between the two neighbors there on Forsyth Road.

“We’re really excited about the collaboration and growing partnership between the theater and the museum,” said J.P. Haynie, MLT’s producing director. “’Heroes and Villains’ is definitely a collaborative effort using the great amphitheater and outdoor spaces the museum has and a lot of their people, our people and, to expand the collaboration even further, students from Stratford Academy who’ll be doing a lot of the dressing up as heroes or villains.”

Haynie said the family-oriented event is more “spooky fun” the “scary spooky.” In the museum’s Peyton Anderson Orchard, there’ll be stories told by MLT actors from the amphitheater stage and crafts and activities offered by museum staff and volunteers. Actors and student actors from Stratford will portray the heroes and villains along the way acting out good-guy, bad-guy vignettes with a little audience participation to help the good guys win.

Haynie said participation is safe and mostly along the lines of shouts and applause and is a good old-fashioned “help save Tinker Bell sort of thing.”

All of the mentioned Halloween activities take into account coronavirus health guidelines as fitting for each setting.

Haynie said entry and tickets for the event are timed to half-hour intervals to help ensure social distancing and tickets are available online for $5 plus fees. He said those wanting to stay longer will likely be able to do so to do things like taking a stroll to see the free 4-H scarecrow display along the museum’s Gumtree Trail adjacent to the MLT building.

He said treats for kids will be provided via specially engineered treat-delivery-devices made especially for the occasion.

“In light of COVID-19 and our having to close the theater for the time being, we’re hoping that this collaboration will be the first of many and greater cooperation between us and the museum to use their outdoor spaces for a number of shows and performances in the future, maybe even some we’re talking about for the coming holidays,” Haynie said.

More information and direction toward tickets is available at both www.masmacon.org and www.maconlittletheatre.org. The museum’s address is 4182 Forsyth Rd.