SFR Picks—Week of October 30

The Haunting

DIY haunted house takes over the 'burbs

"We noticed there wasn't really anything like a haunted house in Santa Fe—you had to go to Albuquerque," says local artist Alex Streeper. "We decided we were going to just get together and make one, and we open it up so the kids in the neighborhood can check it out."

But now you can, too, because Streeper, her husband Eric, Samuel Dabbs of Soul Punk Studios and more than two dozen others have decided to open their massive, haunted creation to the public this year, and it should prove terrifying … or at least come with free candy.

Dabbs comes from a background of movie special effects, comic books and screenwriting while the Streepers -embrace a Meow Wolf-like aesthetic of experiential arts installation. Along with a team of engineers, designers and -artists, they've created similar pieces in -previous years based on asylums and -circus -terrors. This year's version, dubbed the Haunted Forest, marks the third year and largest iteration of the haunted house project yet. Indoors, you'll find a cave and mine shafts, and spilling into the outside is the eponymous forest which, we hear, is crawling with ghosts and baddies and any number of deceased loggers. Surprises lurk everywhere, but we hear it's still OK for the kids.

"Every year it gets bigger and bigger," Dabbs says, "and while we usually open it up to friends and neighborhood kids, we thought we had put so much effort into it that we should reach out [to the public].

For Eric Streeper, it's also kind of personal.

"My mom's birthday is Halloween," he says, adding a nice touch to an already promising night of frights.

(Alex De Vore)

The Haunted Forest: 
5 pm-9 pm Thursday Oct. 31. Free.
The Haunted Forest,
1304 Lujan St.

It’s Alive!

Even if Halloween will technically be over, Second Street Brewery's Rufina Taproom hosts the horrifying second year of its Nightmare on Rufina Street concert. Find local bands covering popular acts such as The Cure and Blondie as well as songs from the movie Labyrinth while DJ Mr Gray fills out the in-between. There's also a pop-up market featuring artists like Fade Away Vintage, Nikolas Lee Duran-Geiger and others, plus a costume contest for all ages. Ghouls and goblins of the night, it is your time to rise from the darkness and slay.
(Cade Guerrero)

Nightmare on Rufina Street: 
7 pm Friday Nov. 1. Free.
Second Street Brewery (Rufina Taproom),
2920 Rufina St.,
954-1068.

A Look Up

How do American cityscapes uphold capitalism? Jim Costanzo asks this question with his camera in an exhibit titled wall street in black & white, opening this Saturday at freeform art space. A participant in the Occupy Wall Street protests, Costanzo shot these photos of the menacing architecture and gaudy storefronts in the fall of 2017 and wrote the accompanying poetry shortly thereafter. A half-look-back on the motives of the Occupy movement and a half-shove-forward towards the system's extinction, this art challenges our normalization of the banking and exchange industry and forces us to question the function of these structures in our lives. (Cole Rehbein)

Wall Street in Black & White:
4-7 pm Saturday Nov. 2. Free.
Freeform Aart Space,
1610 C de Baca Ln.,
692-9249

Don’t Clap

Open poetry readings are one of the best ways to break into the literary scene. Where else can you find a spontaneous group of live people who not only want to hear your words but also have words to exchange with you? Where does the most peaceful form of percussive praise, the snap, reign supreme? I'll tell you where: Teatro Paraguas, this Monday, so wash your beret. This reading is sponsored by the NM State Poetry Society and takes place every month on the first Monday. For a city where the poet laureate is actually a coveted position, we think this event is gonna uncover some fire new poets. (CR)

Santa Fe Poetry Trails Open Mic: 
Sign-up at 6, readings begin at 6:30 pm Monday Nov. 4. Free.
Teatro Paraguas,
3205 Calle Marie Ste. B,
424-1601