Page 10 - Sanger Herald 10-25-18 E-edition

Lifestyles
SANGER HERALD • 2B • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018
Halloween guy goes all out on Fourth Street in Sanger
Sanger
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Pedro Santana may as well be called the Halloween guy.
He loves spiders, enjoys a good scare and gets downright giddy over the holiday whose origins hearken back a couple millennia to the Celts in what is now Ireland and their festival of Samhain. And with trick-or-treaters just days away, Santana has decorated his house on Fourth Street in Sanger with the enthusiasm of a more festive resident on Fresno’s Christmas Tree Lane.
He’s just a little more twisted. Make that a lot more.
“I love Halloween, and I’ve always dreamed of having a house where kids could come and not get
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Pedro Santana loves Halloween and especially spiders.
Federation, which has been conducting an annual Halloween survey since 2003, reported that total spending for the holiday in 2018 is expected to reach $9 billion, with the average celebrant planning to spend $86.79, up from last year’s $86.13. More than 175 million Americans are planning to partake in Halloween festivities, the organization said.
And three quarters of those who spend money buy decorations, while 95 percent spend on candy and 68 percent spend on costumes, the NRF’s survey said.
Santana estimated he’s spent about $2,500 on all his decorations, including the lights that project moving spiders in creepy green light skittering all over the side of his house.
Santana, a sales
representative for Frito Lay, said he did have a pet spider, a red-haired tarantula. He named the arachnid Ozzy. The spider, native to Chilean desert regions, grows to a leg-span of about 5 to 6 inches and is described as fairly docile and hardy. Males live about 5 years and females up to 20.
Unfortunately Lydia Santana, Pedro’s wife, didn’t think too highly of his pet. “She made me get rid of it,” he said.
Later, while preparing dinner, she said she has disliked spiders her entire life.
Ozzy went to a good home.
Lydia said despite her arachnophobia she did like decorating for the holiday. “I think it’s fun for the kids,” she said. “And it doesn’t matter what age (a
trick-or-treater is). I’m just happy to be here.”
She decorated inside the house. Pedro pointed out that her decorations offered up a much friendlier theme compared with his outside haunting.
Darkness soon set in, and the rotating green spider images on the side of Pedro and Lydia’s house brightened. The hanging mummified body looked creepier, and the entire yard took on a more ominous appearance. Mr. Ratatouille sat out front holding the skeleton of a cat. He gives an indication of what’s to come.
Just like Pedro Santana likes. And he said he likes visitors. “We haven’t gotten more than 35-40 kids,” he said.
Maybe more will come this year.
Community Calendar
To get an item into the calendar, email details to nemethfeatures@gmail. com or call Mike or Sharon at 559-875-2511.
RB Entertainment presents Full Throttle Championship Wrestling Halloween Bash at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 27 at the Sanger Community Center, 730 Recreation Ave. Wrestlers include El Guapo, Nitro Hawk the Phantom, Zero, Leviathyn and FTCW champion Kid Combo and Eddie Hernandez. Tickets are $10 or $12 at the door. Details, 559-567-9116.
50th Annual Downtown Trick or Treat is planned from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Oct. 31 at Seventh and N streets. Details, 559-875-4575.
Bethel Church Harvest Festival is planned from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 31 at 946 Bethel Ave. Carnival games, inflatables, food, candy and prizes. Details, 559-875-2378.
Dia de los Muertos Celebration is planned from5to9p.m.Oct.27 in downtown Sanger with food, a parade, memorials and a beer garden. Live music and dancing is expected to enliven the city and bring out the color. Details, 559-875-4575.
Valley Disposal and the City of Sanger plan Sanger Community Clean-Up from 8a.m.to3p.m.Oct.27at the Sanger City Yard, 333 North Ave. for residents within the city boundaries. Proof of residency with a driver’s license or current utility bill is required.
Healthy Halloween returns from 3 to 6 p.m. Oct. 27 at the Sanger Youth Center, 818 L St. The Sanger Parks and Recreation Division again stages an event celebrating the harvest season with treats, tricks and games. Participants are asked to come dressed in costumes. Details, recinfo@ci.sanger. ca.us or 559-876-6300, ext. 1430.
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Mortimer Brewster discovered a body in the window seat of his aunts’ stately home.
He didn’t react at first. He couldn’t. His aunts, Abby and Martha Brewster, were two lovely women described as the “dearest, sweetest, kindest old ladies that ever walked the earth.” So he did the fastest mental calculations his brain could muster in several seconds. He blamed his brother Teddy, who dressed as the former president Theodore Roosevelt, even wearing a safari hat.
Teddy was a little nuts, often yelling, “Charge!” as he barreled up the stairs to the second floor.
But when Mortimer brought it up, his aunts reacted in a way he didn’t expect. Not at all.
“Now, Mortimer,” Abby said. “You just forget about it.”
Mortimer refused. His mind reeled. His twisted expression of horror and disbelief revealed his upended reality.
“What happened to him?” Mortimer asked.
“He died,” Martha said.
And so went the latest production of the Sanger High Apache Theatre at dress rehearsals Monday night in the high school multipurpose room, 1045 N. Bethel Ave. The production of “Arsenic & Old Lace” is to be performed at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25 and 27 and Nov. 1 and 2 on the multipurpose room stage. Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 for students.
Brandon Rodriguez deftly channeled the incomparable Cary Grant from the 1944 Frank Capra- directed classic film. A lock of Rodriguez’s once perfectly coifed hair even strayed across his forehead upon learning of Mortimer’s aunts’ extracurriculars —
El Guapo
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Star Aguado, as Elaine, and Brandon Rodriguez, as Mortimer, appear in Sanger High's production of "Arsenic & Old Lace" today and Saturday in the school's multipurpose room.
are as a person.”
In this case, a sweet, kind
person who kills men. Joshua Robbins plays Teddy Brewster, also earning Mardirosian’s praise. He really plays Teddy playing the former president in a scene-
stealing performance. Christian Reinke plays Jonathan Brewster, Nathaniel Lara plays Dr. Rev. Harper, Matthew Nicacio plays Mr. Gibbs, Brendan Stone plays Officer Brophy, Steven Garcia plays Officer Klein, Patrick Gonzalez plays Officer O’Hara, Roberto Zamora plays Lt. Rooney, Cameron Ward plays Dr. Einstein and Antonio Lopez
plays Mr. Witherspoon. Ward said he’s essentially a sidekick in his role as a plastic surgeon but thoroughly enjoyed it. “I like hanging out with the actors,” he said. “They’re all great. We get along
really well.”
Zamora enjoyed his role
as well. “I’ve just gotten called into the house where I’m trying to figure out what’s going on,” he said. “I’m the person who’s realizing these are crazy people I’m talking with, Abby and Martha.
“Why are they killing people? So I’m in shock when they’re telling me they buried people in the cellar.”
An even dozen bodies.
Mattie Braley, who serves on the stage crew, said she was unsure at first how the play would turn out until she watched the process unfold. “Just how we were going to pull it off with such young people,” she said. “You can 100 percent see the hard work people put in behind the scenes. And the actors.”
Stone said they’ve got it down. “I always feel comfortable toward this time in the show,” he said.
So did the rest.
too scared,” Santana said last week. Evening had just begun to fall and his decorations and spooky lighting gave his just-so ranch-style home a creepy aura.
Santana said he’s been collecting decorations for about seven years. Two years ago he moved into his new house at Fourth and
Lyon and ramped it up.
“I went really big,” he said. “Now our neighbors
are getting Halloweenish.” Laura Ward, who lives just down the street, confirmed his impact as she walked past with her dog. “This guy puts on a fantastic show,” she said.
“I love it. All the spiders.” The National Retail
Sweet little killers and old lace
just like Grant in the movie. And his look of shock as he tried to correlate what he saw and what he was told by the two sweet women proved highly convincing.
Katherine Cobb as Abby and Emily Palomanes as Martha also lent an air of authenticity, going from high-schoolers just about an hour before rehearsal to a pair of aged but proper older women from Brooklyn who liked to kill lonely old men. Star Aguado donned a period-correct black wig for the role of Elaine Harper, Mortimer’s other half, a role in the movie played by Pricilla Lane.
Like Rodriguez, Cobb and Palomanes, she handled the dialogue, timing and character interaction like she was born for the part.
Sanger High theater director Erica Mardirosian said her students had been asking to stage this particular show for the past three years. But while studying for her master’s degree from Southern Oregon University, she had a chance to drill down on “Arsenic & Old Lace”
by designing the play, analyzing each element in depth and putting together an entire binder-busting case study.
“I really started to like it as I got deep into it,” she said. “I enjoyed that it was a comedy. It’s got murder in it. It’s also got murderesses. But they’re likable.
“I felt like, ‘Yeah, this is the year to do it.’ It’s a dark comedy.”
Of Rodriguez, she said, “Speaking of Cary Grant, our lead actor Brandon Rodriguez is very physical (like Grant’s performance). He also has a little bit of that coolness about him. But he’s not really that cool.”
And, of course, for Grant fans, that touch of geekiness is what made Grant cool. Untouchably so. He was relatable — and the rom-com pro of his time.
“ H e a n d S t a r , ” Mardirosian said of Rodriguez, “really have that chemistry.”
Aguado said she liked Elaine Harper’s confidence, something that she didn’t expect of that era. “My character knows what she
wants and is determined to get it,” she said. “Elaine is a different person than I am. She’s more comfortable with herself. She radiates confidence.”
And Cobb slowly transformed that first night of dress rehearsals as her makeup team completed her aged look and applied the white-haired wig. “Super fun to play,” she said of her character. She did the first couple of answers during the interview in her borrowed Brooklyn elderly accent. “To transform from sweet old lady to kind of witch old lady.
“I think a bunch of high- schoolers will find (the play) hilarious.”
She said her Abby is the sweeter of the Brewster sisters, while Palomanes’ Martha is more Victorian and proper. “But we agree on everything,” she said.
Palomanes said she hadn’t had much experience acting the part of an older person, saying that “at first it was really different. (But) it’s easier once you get into the character because you learn how the character acts and how they really
Professional wrestling returns to Sanger with Full Throttle's champion Halloween Bash
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
John Escalon is El Guapo, a professional wrestler.
And he’s not a nice guy. In fact, when he and his troupe of wrestlers come to Sanger at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 27 at the Sanger Community
Center, he’s planning to say some things to rile the crowd. But that’s all part of the show.
“It’s something I love to do,” he said. “I’m an entertainer. I’m a bad guy. The fans are really not going to like me.”
Appearing with
El Guapo at the Full Throttle Championship Wrestling Halloween Bash are Leviathyn, FTCW Champion Kid Combo, Nitro Hawk, Zero, the Phantom and Eddie Hernandez. Expect the body slams, punches and mayhem of any professional wrestling
event. RB Entertainment is the presenting organization. “We’re bringing in wrestlers with 10 to 15 years in the business,” Escalon said. “I started in 1997 and am still going strong. It’s something that gets in your blood. You
can’t turn it off.”
Escalon handed out about 500 fliers for the event recently, going to businesses and organizations that might post his promotional material on their doors. He’s not in the business to get rich. He works in the school system.