This past weekend, theater debuted their very first Haunted InFESTation, Cedar Park High School’s very own haunted house featuring the actors from the upcoming production of “Cabaret.” The haunted house was open to horror enthusiasts of all ages on Oct. 21-22 and alongside the main event, a walk-through haunted house experience, included a myriad of carnival games and activities.

The story of the haunted house involved a tour of the house of patients who had been “cured” by a questionable doctor. The patients, workers and scare-ers throughout the experience were members of the school’s theatre program. The students of Cedar Park worked hard to make sure everyone was invested in the story of their infestation.

“We had a storyline, which is lit,” said actress Deirdre Wolf. “I know a lot of haunted houses that just have scary rooms. So there was more drive to find out what happens next, I think, than just the regular ‘I’m just moving along because that’s habitual.’”

But it wasn’t only theatre kids who participated in this community event. Students from every class and extracurricular helped out to make the Haunted InFESTation as amazing as possible. It was all hands on deck as the haunted house opened on Friday night.

“I helped set up the haunted house and I helped run the pumpkin patch in the carnival section,” said senior Dean Torkelson. “I did work wherever I could, but mainly helped do last-minute touch-ups right before we opened on Friday night. As far as the carnival section, I helped run a station where little kids could get a mini-pumpkin and paint it. It was a lot of fun.”

Those who helped and those who attended both got their fair share of Halloween tricks and treats. Of course, you can’t have a haunted house without a few scares and there were plenty to be had.

“I think it was pretty scary,” Wolf said. “I think we had a good mix of creepy things and all out jump scares.”

It wasn’t just the cast who felt the haunted house had that perfect scare factor; the students and families who walked through also thought the theatre program did an amazing job with their scaring.

“I think it was the perfect amount of scary,” Waide said. “I loved how they made it seem like it wasn’t going to be very scary, then made it completely terrifying.”

Those who helped set up didn’t have as spooky a time as those who went through the house not knowing what to expect. Knowing exactly what scares to expect took away from the experience for a few goers.

“I think that if I went through it not knowing what to expect, I would have been a lot more scared,” Torkelson said. “It also didn’t help that I knew a lot of the actors: I wasn’t terrified by that strange man that kept talking all crazy like, it was just JP being a spooky dingus.”

Theatre hopes to improve the experience next year to make their haunted house even more memorable and exciting for the citizens of Cedar Park. The theatre program enjoyed putting together this spook-tacular.

“It’s a really great fundraiser,” Wolf said. “Believe it or not, theatre is expensive. Between costumes and sets it can get a little wild. Also, it’s a fun community event. It brings theatre together as a family and brought those from general Cedar Park area all together for games, fun and spooky times.”

If you missed this fantastic event, don’t fret, you can still see the theater kids in action as they put on their showing of “Cabaret” this Nov. 3-6. Showings include Thursday through Saturday at 7 p.m. and Saturday through Sunday at 2 p.m.