How to keep from being exhausted?

[Laura Wilson]

This will be my first time ever volunteering at a local haunted house. My friend and I are supposed to be kidnapped girls that have been tortured/cut up, and our killer is in the room getting ready to cut us open. Meanwhile there will be an insane dentist pulling teeth. Pretty sick!

Both my friend and I are excellent screamers. We're also great at being scared. However, it is physically exhausting to look genuinely scared over and over. Not to mention the toll it takes on your voice. We're trying to take turns screaming. One will be on a table crying and begging to escape. Crying takes more energy than you would think! We just want it to be believable.

Anyone have any advice on how to keep this up (and still have a voice) all night?

Thanks!

[soultrkr]

The best advice I can give is honey lemon cough drops when you can.
Don't go shrill keep your screams at the lower range of your voice the upper range and mid range are usually the first two to go when you lose your voice.
Turn the volume down some. if your running at 100 percent the entire time you’re not going to make it pace yourself and turn it down to about 75 percent. Try to keep hydrated drink lots of water and avoid anything like sodas the day before and the day after your work.
hot tea with honey and some lemon juice after the shows if you can and also if your voice is getting really strained and your throat is hurting gargle warm salt water.
If there is a group of you, you could rotate whom is doing what one can scream one can cry and one could just be curled up in the fetal position twitching rotate after each one to give a small break. Just a few ideas. Also keep in mind if your character has been tortured allot how much scream or fight is going to be left in them shock has probably set in and some of them may just be trying to crawl away desperately.
Hopefully someone else can add some more things to this.

[NightmareOnYourStreet]

if you lose your voice on sunday itll be back by thursday or friday and itll be stronger than ever! One thing for me and my friend which might not be the healthiest thing to do but we purposefully try to lose our voice first weekend, because after that we can go strong all season. Of course not without lots of halls, water and everything else already mentioned above! They really nailed it on the head on volume and what to drink!

But one thing you could do instead of like a carried out loud scream is just a shot burst then followed by saying "no No NO!" or "please no! Stop!" anything like that. just keep it on a lower volume. Just think like crying while you say that. The first initial loud scream (or you can even do it after you say something) will startle the group. plus the talking adds to the effect that youre really worried

[Badger]

Avoid sodas and energy drinks. They do nothing for your voice and can cause a bad crash that will not do you or anyone else any good.

Warm up your voice for at least 20 minutes before opening. Practice things to say with the other characters in the room and learn specific lines that can achieve maximum scare without damaging your voice.

Stretch and warm up your muscles before you open so you don't cramp. If your haunt gives breaks, take them.

[Tom]

I would not recommend losing your voice on purpose. It took over a week for a girl in my haunt to finally get her voice back and it wasn't the same after that because she was afraid to lose it again. She didn't want to lose it again.
Practicing would help in conditioning your voice box before the haunt starts as mentioned previously.
Take care of that voice box from day one. A great screamer is a vital tool in a haunt.
Keep a bottle of water, tea or honey mixture by your side at all times. If the haunt owner has a problem with it, tell him you are protecting your voice to last the whole season. If he is a true haunter, he will already understand and will make sure you're taken care of.
Also, just check with a local pharmasist on what's best for what you're doing (liquids, cough drops and such). It certainly wouldn't hurt and that's there job.
And you might try going every other time on screaming. Others in the haunt will still hear your scream which gets them as well. Nothing like hearing a girl screaming somewhere in a haunt

Main thing, if you have a great scream, take very good care of it so it will last all season.

Good luck.

[hauntedkimmy]

I like Ricola throat drops. They seem to help keep my voice the longest. Warming up is very important to get ready and altering your pitch of your scream can help too. Don't always use the same pitch, intensity, with each scream to avoid putting all the stress and strain on one vocal point. Moans and whimpers can also "beef out " the screams and give your vocal cords a break.

I usually mildy lose my voice after a night of growling at patrons, but it comes back by morning. That's kinda my warning sign to know I'm gonna overdo it if I push much more in one night.

[residentpsycho19]

I scream in my room and the first night i was in there I lost my voice. You need to find a way to scream that doesn't strain your voice. If you have time between groups, have a cough drop or peppermint to help. One thing that helped me get my voice back was hot tea with A LITTLE whiskey, it gave me instant relief. instead of screaming, you can yell "Get out before he kills you" or something like that.

[Jim Warfield]

"Don't kill me, kill him!(Her?)" as you point at a recently arriving customer.
When I was a teenager, walking in the woods I overheard a similair thing from a girl on a cliff (2 girls+ 2 guys) "Don't rape me, rape her instead!" Since her girlfriend had just passed out! (Drugs?)
Nothing like friendship!
I waiting 50 feet below them, listening, nothing ever happened but 25 minutes later the one guy was walking passed me down the sidewalk so I looked at him and repeated her line:"Don't rape me, rape her!"
His eyes got wide, he had no clue anyone else was in the woods that late afternoon.
I assume he was grateful that nothing had happened on that cliff that afternoon since there was at least an audio/witness to it.

I really don't know how I did it this October? I talk and have to talk "Over" some people non-stop for 6 or more hours each night, yet I didn't/don't lose my voice anymore.
I used to get my "October voice", raspy, deep sometimes failing. Some children accused me of "Talking Like That to Scare Them!"
No, it was ALL that I had left.
I also dred getting my "October Ears", from maybe 10 young girls all shrieking at the same time, for little or no reason, so quickly I can't plug my ears, the sensation is like screwdrivers being forced into my ears and sometimes that pain was still there at October's finale from the first week !

[Damien Warwick]

Personally, screaming does little for me. I find it to be overdone, and overly taxing on your voice. If you can't do it comfortably every night for every group, consider doing something else. You're about to be killed, that'd scare the crap out of me. I'd be so scared to the point that I can't talk, any vocalizations from me would be very quiet, like a "stage whisper" 1) cause I'm so scared 2) I don't wanna tick the man who may kill me off.

In terms of exaustion...my personal pick-me-ups are NOS energy drinks and, depending on my character a Monster cocktail...a mix of multiple energy drinks.

Now, when I'm doing a monster whos going to be very "in your face" I like 5 hour energies...There is something in the make up that reacts with the bacteria in your mouth and just makes your breath smell vile :P

[The Forsaken Crypt]

A lot of people tend to stray from energy drinks. On a night where I'm working 8 hours or more I pound down 2, 5 hour energy shots. Those are seriously magical. With discretion, if you decide to use these you will eventually crash. The point of the 2nd shot is to prevent that hopefully until you close.

Really though it comes down to just pacing and staying hydrated. If you go all out giving 200% for the first hour your going to be hurting the rest of the night. PACE PACE PACE!
Do your best without running out of steam early on.

Gatorade is another very helpful drink to use. Not only does it hydrate you it gives you electrolytes that should keep you going.