Halloween is certainly one of the high holy holidays for our community. The pandemic put a little damper on most celebratory events for a hot minute but I’m happy to say things are back in full swing. Henri David’s historic Halloween Ball celebrates its 54th year of “Divine Decadence,” the Gayborhood will of course be decked out and there are Halloween themed drag shows aplenty. By land, check out the Halloween Drag Brunch at Mulberry or the Halloween Bash at Morgan’s Pier, both hosted by Brittany Lynn. By sea, well, by the Delaware river at least, there are parties aboard both the Moshulu and the Spirit of Philadelphia.
But Philadelphia’s most hallowed Halloween attraction is just north of Center City at Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP). Formerly known as Terror Behind the Walls, Halloween Nights is billed as a “Festival of Epic Proportions.” It’s an immersive experience featuring 15 attractions and 5 thrilling haunted houses. If you’ve been before there will be two new haunted houses and an immersive area, the Bizarre Bar, where visitors can stop for a drink and light fare. Fire dancers, knife throwers, and other acts from the new “Big Top Terror” will be on hand to entertain. Having been a cohost on the Bozo the Clown show (google it!) I fortunately don’t suffer from coulrophobia, a fear of clowns, but for those of you who shudder at the thought of “It,” Big Top should be spine tingling!
Halloween Nights are full of screams and scares around each corner, and this year you can opt to wear a band that allows you to be grabbed, sent into hidden passageways, and even temporarily separated from your group. If that’s a little much for you, there’s also the option of taking a breather and enjoying the talented cast of Esther’s Speakeasy, helmed by this week’s Portrait, the talented songstress Shannon Turner. One half of the duo Glitter and Garbage, awarded Best Cabaret Act by Philadelphia Magazine, Turner brings her tunes and talents to Halloween Nights and the annual Pride Night party on October 11, where Turner and the other half of G&G, Lili St. Queer will give a special performance. In addition, Haunters Against Hate x Halloween Nights Pride Gargoyle shirts will be on sale, and enjoy additional special Pride Night treats as the Skeleton Crew lights up the night with electric dance performances in Gargoyle Gardens… with a rainbow twist.
What’s your geographical tale?
I’m from Philadelphia, then I lived in New York for about ten years and then came back here in 2012 after I’d had a stroke. The penitentiary was my first gig back in the performance world.
Tell me about the family.
My family is from Fishtown and Frankford originally and then we were out in the suburbs and then they moved back here! It was a typical suburban childhood. My mom worked various jobs doing secretarial type work and my dad was a general manager at Betts Electric. He retired but now works for the census because he’s one of those guys who can’t stop working. He loves it.
Any siblings?
Yes, I have an identical twin, Kate.
Okay, you know I have to go there. It’s always fascinating to me, I don’t know why. Maybe because I don’t have any sisters, much less a twin.
[Laughing] It’s okay, everyone has a reaction. I met identical twins recently but I didn’t realize it at first because they had drastically different styles of hair and clothing and when I realized it, I was like, “Oh my God! I feel I failed as a twin that I didn’t recognize other twins.”
Were you dressed alike as kids?
Same outfit, different colors, so I might have a gray top with a purple pocket and my twin Kate would have the opposite. I think my parents did it just so they could tell us apart. Even I look at pictures and I can’t tell who is who sometimes!
Okay, last question about this. What’s the twiniest thing you experience?
I think we can tell when something is wrong, I’ll just get the feeling that I need to call her or vice versa. My dad tells the story that when we were kids, one was in the front yard and one was in the backyard with the other parent and then one of us would start crying because the other one had fallen down. Weird little things like that, nothing too spooky.
What kinds of things were you into as a kid?
I loved to read and I was always singing and listening to music and playing with my voice, trying to make interesting sounds or creating characters.
What was your microphone of choice when singing in the mirror? I think mine was the vacuum cleaner hose.
I had a yellow toy microphone with a black foam top, and I’d spend hours with that thing. I recently found a picture of myself with it when I was about 4 years old. And what’s funny is that in the picture, I’m holding the mic in the exact same distinctive way that I do now. I sent it to my cabaret partner and he was like, “That’s really freaky!” Apparently I’m the same person that I was at four.
What style of music were you into?
Well as a queer teenager, Tori Amos of course, but I also listened to a lot of REM, they were my favorite band as a kid. I was obsessed with, “Losing My Religion” and with the Ghostbusters soundtrack. I had a really varied musical upbringing. My parents played a lot of Tom Waits, a lot of Pouges, Gil Scott-Heron… which not too many middle schoolers were into, so it made me a bit of a weirdo.
May I assume that you were a theater geek?
Yes, yes. I was in drama club, I still talk to some of the people I formed friendships with back then.
Did you go to college?
I did; I attended AMDA, the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NY, and again I formed close relationships that last to this day. I talk to some of them daily. I learned a lot of things there that I still use and incorporate here. I try to teach it to the actors and singers who are under my theatrical direction and management here.
What’s a tip you learned from AMDA that you pass on?
That you don’t have to always sing at a 10. You need to take care of your voice, we have 31 show nights and they are intense. There are ways to have a show stopping performance without belting everything.
Very true. You mentioned something about a stroke. What happened?
I was in Rochester, NY doing a show and I started getting sick and was plagued with a lot of auto-immune issues but no-one seemed to understand what was going on. I was later diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, vasculitis and lupus. In 2012 I had a PE [pulmonary embolism] which led to a stroke. I was told I died three times before stabilizing, and even received last rites. You may have noticed that sometimes it takes me a minute to get my words together. I had to relearn how to walk, talk, eat, sing, all of that.
What was the hardest part of recovery?
I’m still recovering, I’m mostly paralyzed on my right arm and my whole right side can get a little draggy. I’d say the hardest part is comparing myself with where I thought I would be in my life right now. I have to let go of that still. Trying to learn how to live as a disabled person is not something I thought I’d still be figuring out now. But now I’m starting from a different mark.
When I had the stroke I was in a coma for a few weeks and they didn’t think I was going to survive. When I woke up I didn’t know who I was, where I was and I didn’t recognize anyone around me. It was like the lyrics from Burning Down the House, “How did I get here? This is not my beautiful house, this is not my beautiful wife.” I was scared because I didn’t know what was happening to me, and I still have some PTSD from that. But surviving it also made me feel like there’s something I’m here to do. And this place is a constant reminder of that because everyone here is so great and supportive.
So that’s a good segue into learning exactly what it is that you do here?
I’m the manager of the Speakeasy, err Flower Shop… here at Halloween Nights. It’s Esther’s Flower Shop, Mum’s the word. We do it all here, singing, dancing, and acting as we create a really fun show. It’s a great way for people to take a break or decompress after going through this labyrinthian building and all the crazy sites one sees going through the various haunted houses. At Esther’s you are bombarded with fun characters from the second you walk in to the moment you leave. It’s really grown, when we first started in 2015 there were only 3 singers, and I was one of them. Now we have 9 and an amazing pool of talent. One person might be singing show tunes, another doing a standard from the 1920’s, someone else an original song that they sing in character. I’m trying to foster an environment where my actors can be as creative as possible.
Was the speakeasy your first job here?
No, I started as a line beast. We interact with the guests as they enter each attraction and help keep the line going. It was my first gig after recovering and relearning how to walk and talk. It was a real confidence booster.
What’s your showstopper song?
Well, “Creep” is always a crowd favorite, the Postmodern Jukebox version. “Bei Mir Bist Du Schön” always gets a good response…
Hey! I saw you perform last year. I remember my friend LOVED your version of Creep. In fact, your show was so good I had a hard time getting them to do the other attractions we hadn’t seen yet. Actually, I think she was scared of the haunted houses but loved the speakeasy, I’m sorry, the Flower Shop, wink, wink.
Aww, thank you. And yeah, we get a lot of folks who come in for a breather from the terror!
Any paranormal experiences here?
You know, I don’t really buy into that stuff, but last night I heard a woman whispering on the microphone and I turned around expecting to tell someone to kindly step off the stage but there was no one there!
Cool!
Not cool!
[Laughing] Okay, so when you’re not entertaining the dead and undead, what do you like to do?
I still really like to read. Right now I’m reading a book called, “Patricia Likes to Cuddle.” It’s a strange book about monsters and Big Foot and also reality TV and queer relationships. I have a cabaret show called Glitter and Garbage, so I spend a lot of time doing shows with my cabaret partner, Lili St. Queer, who is amazing. And I try to go see as many shows as I can too.
What’s your coming out tale?
I knew that I was queer when I was in middle school. The only person I told was my twin, who was just like, [shrugs shoulders] “Okay, cool.” So after that I felt pretty comfortable telling my friends. I mean, being in drama club I felt we were all always coming out to each other anyway! I accidentally came out to my dad on stage, I forgot he was in the audience and started talking about my first girlfriend. We had dinner and at one point I said, “You know I’m queer right?” and he was like, “Yeah, I know.” It was never a big deal and no one was strange or weird about it. I’ve been very lucky. It’s another one of the great things about this place, you’re surrounded by queer people, in management, staff, and actors and I’ve always felt supported here.
I know, sometimes I’ll contact a business or event I want to cover and will get reps who will tell me, “I don’t think we have any LGBT+ people here” and inside my response is, “Oh yes you do!” At ESP it’s like, “We’ve got about 15 folks for you to choose from, who do you want?”
Is that Utopia?
Sounds like it. Favorite book as a kid?
I was a sad little bisexual girl, so “The Bell Jar” was requisite reading, but there were so many favorites. I read “Catcher in the Rye” cover to cover. And I love horror. When I was 11 I discovered Stephen King and it was like opening a door. His writing is so visceral that you’re completely in that world. That wet my whistle for all things spooky and scary.
Do you get to check out the other exhibits?
I got to do a mock run of the attractions and everything looks amazing, and spooky! There’s an exhibit called Nightmares and it has someone who floats, I have to say, that got to me.
Tell me about the meaning of your tats?
I’m obsessed with David Lynch and “Twin Peaks” so my first tattoo was of Laura Palmer’s ‘Meanwhile’ hands. I have a small heart that I got the day after my mom passed away, I have a quote from Bret Easton Ellis, all of his works have the phrase “Disappear Here.” There’s something very self referential and it’s stuck with me since I was a kid, and I have a coffin on my leg because, why not?
If you were undead would you be a zombie, vampire or ghost.
Vampire, they seem to have the most fun and they’re the most stylish.
What happens in your reoccurring nightmare?
I often have a nightmare that I’m in a car and going off an overpass. The car just floats into nothingness and I wake up.
What’s the strangest item in your home?
I have a small coffin above my bedroom door, it’s multi-colored resin and it says, “Ugh.” People don’t really notice it, but it makes me laugh.
If you could switch places for a day with one person, who would it be?
Without a doubt, one of the Real Housewives. The show is my toxic treat. I just want to know what it’s like for one day. It’s like Shakespeare!
A song that feels like it was written for me?
“Maybe This Time” — I really connect with the lyrics when I sing it, and they seem to resonate more year after year. And it’s a Cabaret song so…
Perfect!