Test your sanity with Michigan Tech Theatre’s Haunted Smelter, if you dare! This weekend, the Michigan Tech Theatre Series invites the public to once again celebrate the spooky season by visiting a historic “haunted” Keweenaw mining site. Themed “Descent into Madness,” this year’s haunted experience will take place at the Quincy Smelting Works in Hancock.
Each fall, Michigan Tech’s Department of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) partners with the Quincy Mine Hoist Association and Keweenaw National Historical Park Advisory Commission to create a haunted experience for all ages. The abandoned infrastructure left behind by the copper mining industry provides the perfect backdrop for Michigan Tech students to create a thrillingly creepy exploration.
“Every year, a new group of students explore the venues and themes to create things that they believe will be the perfect jump-scare for our audiences. As we grow and shift the event, students consider what was done in the past to improve the event for our local audience,” said Kent Cyr, VPA technical director. “The students have worked really hard to make sure there are some good and weird ‘creepy-crawly’ moments. The audience can also expect some good ‘boneville’ vignettes to check out!”
The roughly 25-minute walk-through tours are open tonight, October 23, and Friday, October 24, from 7 p.m.-10:30 p.m., and Saturday, October 25, from 6-10:30 p.m. Tours will start approximately every 15 minutes. Book your tickets now through the Quincy Mine Hoist Association website.
Haunted Smelter: Descent Into Madness — Michigan Tech Theatre
Thursday and Friday, October 23 and 24, from 7-10:30 p.m. | Saturday, October 25, from 6-10:30 p.m.
Quincy Smelting Works — 48991 Maple St., Hancock
Michigan Tech Theatre Series
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Visitors to the Tech Trails can experience a cornucopia of amplified forest sounds inside Michigan Tech’s newly completed nature megaphone. The 10-foot-long conical wooden structure offers a place of quiet contemplation that enhances the sounds of the natural world.
The megaphone, located at the intersection of the Tecumseh and Sure Would trails near the Tech Trails main trailhead, illustrates the kind of cross-campus collaboration typical of Tech. It was created by Lisa Gordillo (VPA/CFRES) and her students along with a whole host of campus and community partners.
“A nature megaphone is an interactive sculpture for the forest,” said Gordillo. “It’s an intersection of so many things: art, acoustic ecology, entertainment design, well-being, community and sustainability. It allows people to experience nature in a different way than they might expect.”
Read about the megaphone and the massive interdisciplinary collaboration that brought it to life on Michigan Tech’s Unscripted Research Blog.
The temperature may be falling, but the jazz is heating up backstage at the Rozsa Center. Don’t miss the first jazz performance of the season this Friday and Saturday, October 24 and 25.
Friday, the R&D Big Band — directed by legendary Michigan Tech Professor Emeritus Mike Irish — joins JazTec, Michigan Tech’s top small jazz group, for an intimate concert performed backstage at the Rozsa. They will also be joined by the Video Game Music Ensemble, a student-led ensemble dedicated to arranging and performing music from popular video games.
On Saturday, the Workshop Brass Band kicks things off with some high-energy New Orleans brass band music. Then join the Jazz Lab Band, directed by Drew Kilpela, for an exciting night of big band compositions by Michigan-born trumpeter, composer and arranger Thad Jones.
Each evening provides the perfect opportunity for a fall night out. Let the autumn leaves dazzle your eyes by day — then let Michigan Tech Jazz dazzle your ears after dark!
Backstage Jazz: Big Bands and B-Sides — Michigan Tech Jazz
Friday and Saturday, October 24 and 25
Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts | 7:30 p.m.
Michigan Tech Music Series
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