By Alba Galvan

On the night before Halloween, a Curious Company in the business of storytelling shared their silly spooky skits, before delivering a final performance on Oct. 31 — marking the end of a two-week tour of A Silly Spooky Halloween from the Theater Arts program at Cal Poly Humboldt.

Starring the Curious Company, the show began with a brief history of Halloween along with three spooky stories, accompanied by a funny-boned skeleton. Attendees arrived in Halloween costumes to a family-friendly show that encouraged them to embrace their inner child.

Troy Lescher, a theater professor, directed the play and took on the role of playwright. The script took about two months to develop and students enrolled in a production class had the opportunity to revise it. This show is a part of the 2026–27 mainstage season, along with Rhinoceros opening on Nov. 6.

“We had a read-through and everyone was able to be in an environment to give their two cents on the script,” Freshman wildlife major and cast member Nico Mehta said. “Children’s theater is so flexible, some of the stuff we did on stage today was improv and it’s honestly just a really fun experience with such a small cast.”

For two weeks, the Curious Company toured libraries and various elementary schools, sharing their fun-sized Halloween stories with children across Humboldt county.

“I think the energy was especially high when we were in elementary schools where there’s a lot of kids,” Willow Eichen, cast member and double major in botany and forestry said. “They really enjoyed the show, and I had an extra fun time when the kids were having an extra fun time.”

The performance carried the audience through a series of wacky tales, like a witch whose mysterious cauldron turns out to be ice cream. A Trinidad Uber driver suspected a smelly passenger left severed heads in the backseat — only to discover they were heads of broccoli, resulting in a roar of laughter from the audience. The final story followed a vengeful ghost who returned to haunt his wife after being buried without his double pair of underpants. The stories didn’t follow a moral, but entertained the audience members of all ages nonetheless.

“I loved it and it was obviously aimed for kids, so it wasn’t college level, but it was so cute,” Freshman elementary education major and audience member Haley Berdion said. “I was just like, wow, this is really nice and it’s really well made for younger entertainment.”

When the play ended, the audience left the show with 35 minutes less screen time and three tips for children to take with them — applicable not only to Halloween, but for the rest of their lives as well— bring a flashlight, say thank you and brush your teeth.

“I think we need stuff like this for young kids too. My nine-year-old, he watches a lot on a screen,” Lescher said. “It’s kind of nice that he can — that kids can engage in storytelling with living, breathing human beings on the stage and not something through YouTube Kids.”

Bio : Alba is a reporter and opinion editor for the Lumberjack. She enjoys listening to people’s opinions with an open mind. You can reach her at agg83@humboldt.edu.