Gateway's Haunted Playhouse actors live on site, enjoy Bellport community

By day, they care for the grounds of Gateway's Haunted Playhouse in Bellport: Moving props, maintaining the pallet maze, fixing anything that's out of place.

By night, they transform into crazed, bloodthirsty, human harvesters, terrorizing thrill-seeking Long Islanders across 145 rooms of frights.

And in between, they can just walk a few feet back to their homes.

The actors and technicians of this seasonal attraction live in buildings on Gateway's property for the entirety of what they call "haunt season," spanning the end of September through early November. Outside of that time frame, actors who perform in Mainstage productions at The Gateway (which is a nonprofit) also have the option to live on site during the run of the show. 

Many working actors living in New York City find it appealing against the commute: The closest Long Island Rail Road station is in Bellport, and there are only a few trains to and from Penn Station sprinkled throughout the early morning and afternoon. The commute time is more than 90 minutes with most journeys including a transfer at Jamaica or Babylon.

This year's haunt has brought in artists from all over the country who were drawn by the on-site housing.

"The property is pretty full," said Paul Allan, executive artistic director of The Gateway. "The typical amount of people living on the property during theatrical shows are about 50 to 60, and it's about the same during the haunted house."

Where the monsters live

The housing had been used as dormitories for summer campers going back to the ‘60s. "Gateway was only a summer operation until the '80s," Allan said. Little by little, the buildings were renovated and winterized for year-round use.

There are several buildings to live in: A spacious Colonial Revival home where mostly actors stay, a cottage for managers and directors, a dormitory for department heads and another property called the "coop" (named for its area outside where chickens used to roam) where technicians live, Kaitlyn LaGrega said. She wears several hats at Gateway throughout the year, including assistant director for the Haunted Playhouse.

LaGrega has lived and worked there since 2019, but her connection to Gateway goes back even further.

"When I turned 14, I got my working papers and I was a part of the parking and front of house staff," said LaGrega, 27.

In her room decorated with string lights and Squishmallows, LaGrega sometimes answers work-related emails from her bed. If she's running late for work, she takes comfort in the fact that her commute is just a few steps across the pavement to the big, red barn theater.

The main house (where mostly actors live) is known as the staff house, and it's more than 100 years old, said Michael Baker, who is the director of this year's haunt and has been working at Gateway for 25 years. Maintaining such a historical property comes with lots of careful decision making.

"There's cost involved and there are design factors involved," Baker said. "The historical aesthetic, as well as the artistic and charming side of the aesthetic, have to be preserved. So choices as small as paint type are important. Original wood window frames and single-pane windows: How do we upgrade those so we're more efficient, but so it doesn't look like we're mixing all this contemporary with the original charm of the building?"

(Haunted) housing provided

'This is the first time I've lived in a different state. And this is the first time I get to see the seasons and the leaves change. It's been really nice.'

— Angelina Zuccarelli, 23, of Florida

The housing is "considered part of [employees'] compensation," Baker said. As far as offering housing on the same property as the venue, "there are only a handful of theaters like this left around the country," he said. Often, regional theaters have to eliminate their on-site housing opportunities due to funding, Baker added. 

"When these jobs are advertised in the papers, in New York and all over the country to get artists and actors, they'll list a salary and then it will say 'housing provided,' " Baker said. "Maybe they're making a little less money, but they're not paying rent."

Internet, power and water are all included in the housing, and the laundry units are coin-operated, Baker added, also noting that the housing and fire alarm system are all inspected by Suffolk County.

"Part of the charm of Gateway is that it's all-inclusive," Baker said. "The performers are embedded not only in the shows, but in the property and the community that surrounds the Playhouse, so the Bellport community and the Suffolk County area. I think there's a benefit on so many levels for keeping the area relevant, with fresh faces."

Angelina Zuccarelli, 23, moved to the Gateway premises from Coconut Creek, Florida. She is a props and scenic artist who also acts in the haunt, as a nurse eager to find her next victims.

Gateway's Haunted Playhouse follows a new storyline every year, in order to develop new characters and situations for the maze. This year's theme is "The Harvester": Following some work done on the property's cesspool, a dormant chemical has been unleashed and mutated the characters of the haunted house, physically and mentally. Now, those harmed by the chemical are desperate to collect as many humans (guests of the haunt) as possible.

"The build was incredibly demanding and exhausting," Zuccarelli said. "So I think that made getting to be a part of the haunt that much more worth it."

This is Zuccarelli's first job since graduating from college in Florida. One of the reasons she accepted the position was because of the housing opportunity, she said.

"This is the first time I've lived in a different state," she said. "And this is the first time I get to see the seasons and the leaves change. It's been really nice."

Enjoying Bellport — without scaring anyone

There are pros and cons to sharing a living space with colleagues. Zuccarelli and Austin Vega, who is a carpenter and actor in the haunt, live in the same hallway and share a bathroom. "That, for me, is one of the cons," Zuccarelli said as she and Vega laughed, "because I would obviously prefer not to share a shower."

"If I get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night and he's in there, you can't avoid each other," she said, "and if I'm going out to my car or whatever, you're always running into everyone."

Fostering a work-life balance becomes particularly important when you live at your job, Vega said.

"I think on your day off, you have to go off property to separate yourself a little bit," said Vega, 26, who moved here from Dayton, Ohio. "But it's also kind of nice because it really helps lessen work conflict. You know you have to see people all the time, so I think we're all extra nice to each other, extra understanding."

'This area is nice. It's calmer, but it's not in the middle of nowhere.'

— Shelby Fairchild, of upstate Lake Placid

Shelby Fairchild, who is from upstate Lake Placid, is an electrician and actor in the haunt. She's a figure skater, and recently discovered the nearby Peconic Ice Rinks, so she spends some free time there.

"This area is nice," said Fairchild, 25. "It's calmer, but it's not in the middle of nowhere."

Of course, they can run into co-workers anytime, anywhere — especially in the kitchen, which is in its own building and is shared by all of the actors and technicians.

And there are other quirks that come with living on-site during Halloween season. On weekends from noon to 3 p.m., the property welcomes families to the "Not So Scary Kids Adventure." The haunted maze is replaced by outdoor games, a bounce house and friendly seasonal characters for children to enjoy.

But the box office for this attraction is in the lobby of the staff house — the residence of many actors who also perform in this attraction before resuming their haunted maze duties at night.

"It does impact housing, and the actors that live there are really amazing people for helping with the project and knowing how important it is to have that happen in the lobby of where they live," Baker said. "So we alter the entrance and they can enter through a different way, and we just make sure there's plenty of notice and people are comfortable with everything going on."

When the haunt is over

'People are leaving as best friends, as longtime contacts. It seems the bonds people make here extend far past it.'

— Austin Vega, of Ohio

At the end of haunt season, depending on the length of their contracts, many crew members stick around and prepare for the next production, while most actors head home or to their next project, Baker said.

"And then a whole new group of performers move in," he added.

This year, the haunted maze will transform into a winter wonderland: The next production will be The Gateway's Holiday Spectacular on Ice, starring Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan.

"Along with the haunted house being stripped out offstage and loaded out, an ice stage is loaded in, and a new set is loaded in," Baker said. "And then the housing where performers will be has to get completely flipped and touched up as new people are moving in. It's quite the undertaking."

So, the homes of many of the actors who sported ghoulish face paint and fake blood splatter, luring patrons into their labyrinth of monsters and mischief, will soon be inhabited by the vocalists and figure skaters of the holiday spectacular, and they'll go their separate ways. But even though the group starts off as co-workers, often "people are leaving as best friends, as longtime contacts," Vega said.

"It seems the bonds people make here extend far past it," he added.

It's typical for theater artists to develop those kinds of connections over the course of a production's climb to opening night and its run thereafter, but the close quarters make these bonds even deeper and more encompassing, Zuccarelli said.

"A lot of times, we're choosing to spend time with each other, even after work," she said. "We watch movies, we'll have a board game night, tonight we're having a bonfire. We don't have to, but also I think making an effort to spend time with each other outside work helps to build the community, and that also shows in our work when we do the haunt, because we're all so connected and in it with each other."