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Trixy Treats 2024 Blog
🕑 Added 2024-10-31 03:34:26 +0000 UTCHi everyone! Happy Halloween! I can’t believe another year has gone by and that the Halloween season is already coming to an end! To kick off the beginning of October, we traveled to Paducah, Kentucky to explore and shoot at the gorgeous Columbia Theater. The Columbia Theater originally opened in 1927 and began as a vaudeville theater, which later became a movie house. They ultimately closed their doors in 1987 and the theater has remained untouched until 2013 when restoration efforts began in hopes to restore this once lively venue.
We were lucky enough to have an opportunity to shoot here before too much restoration had occurred. If you’ve been following me and my work long enough, you’ll know that I have an appreciation for places that once housed many joyful memories, or have an ominous past. The Columbia Theater is accepting donations in hopes to restore the property and have it up and running again. I will be sharing many behind the scenes photos for Trick or Treat & Bad Witch tier members, as well as a location tour and walkthrough for Bad Witch members only. These photos have documented the location's current state and walk you through the truly incredible property that looks to have been completely untouched for decades.
When and if the Columbia Theater reaches their goal of restoring the property, I know that Brendan and I would love to go back and see the progress! For now, we’ll focus on how it stands today and walk you through this project, and why I chose this location for Trixy this year.
When we began scouting locations for the 2024 Halloween season, I knew I wanted something different from anywhere we had previously brought Trixy to life. I had a few specifics in mind, but knew nothing of what we were about to stumble upon. I have had a fascination for historic abandoned buildings since I was a teenager and have explored them ever since. When we came across the Columbia Theater, I was instantly in love. Though I have quite a bit of knowledge of various properties that are no longer operating or have been completely left behind, I had yet to cross paths with this one. Truly unique and as though you’ve stepped back in time. This location was something special.
We reached out to who we believed to be responsible for the building, and within a few days, we heard back! Hesitant to get too excited, we explained what we were looking to do there and asked if it were possible to rent the building from early morning until the evening. Luckily, we came to an agreement that accommodated everyone and we could begin to plan our trip.
In the meantime, I made new props, thought of what story I wanted to tell through the images we would create, and checked any last minute details off my list. Finishing just in time to pack up and leave, we were on our way to Kentucky!
Now let me tell you, this time around I felt truly fortunate. If you’ve been around here for a while you’ll know that sleep is almost never on my side for these projects, and that after traveling, I typically pull an all nighter to get ready for our shoot. Well, for this shoot, I was able to get 3 & 1/2 hours of rest. Did I fall asleep? Absolutely not, I’m far too anxious about missing my alarm. Because of that fear, I usually have the front desk call our room to wake me, as well as setting an alarm.
The process of transforming into Trixy takes several hours, and if I run into any complications due to the lack of sleep, it may take longer. Usually it takes me anywhere from 6-7 hours to shower, complete the makeup, hair, contacts, and get into the costume. During that time, you can also factor in things like packing our belongings back up and taking them to the car, so that we can begin our journey back home immediately after we wrap our shoot.
This time around I got out of bed to hop in the shower at 2AM, with the goal of leaving our hotel by 8AM sharp. Well, as previously mentioned, there can be complications, right? There certainly were. I worked through each complication, and while very tired, was ready to leave by 9:15. We stayed at a hotel not too far from the location which was incredibly exciting for me, because there have been times we have to stay 45 minutes to an hour away. The longer periods of time sitting still in the car don’t keep me lively and awake after lack of sleep.
After a short 10 minute drive, we pulled up to the location, and wow, was it stunning! Brendan began to unload our gear from our rental and introduced himself to one of the property managers who was up on a ladder changing the letters on the marquis. The marquis advertised the tours they were offering that upcoming weekend. Once Brendan was given a quick tour and rundown of the place, I hopped out of the car with my sweats on over my clown suit, and started to help carry things inside.
I know I say this about almost everywhere we’ve been lucky enough to shoot, but this location was truly something else. It still had its original stained glass windows and tile from when they opened in the 1920’s. The more I explored this place, the more I fell in love. The theater was filthy, and if you know me, you know that’s absolutely a compliment. The eerie vibe of a place that once housed so many wonderful memories, was now left completely behind to deteriorate. Once a place of glamour and luxury was covered in decay. I stood there with the theater before me and thought, “perfect”.
Brendan took a while to set up the lighting, so I continued to carefully give myself a tour of the location. Not everywhere was safe to explore. Some areas upstairs were completely blocked off, and other accessible areas had soft spaces in the floor which added a level of anxiety to my self guided journey through the theater.
Not long after arriving, we were all set up and ready to begin shooting in the lobby. This is where you can see the original tile still in tact. We spent about two hours here experimenting with some of our new equipment and warming up. At one point we took a short break for Brendan to go next door to use the church bathroom. As you can imagine, the theater had no working bathrooms. I certainly wasn’t suitable for mass, so I held it. All day.
While I waited for Brendan to return, I sat in the lobby and admired the gorgeous tile that had been there since the theater opened in 1927. During this time, one of the board members of the restoration project was there giving a tour to a local news crew, who was filming the theater to help promote the upcoming tours they were providing that weekend. While the news crew gathered additional footage, I spoke with the board member about the history of the theater. Before wrapping our conversation, I had to ask, “Is it haunted?”.
She said that she had no knowledge of any deaths and/or hauntings at the Columbia Theater, but that because it’s been around so long, who knows. I personally didn’t feel the presence of anything paranormal during our time there, but there was absolutely something. Perhaps just the lingering memories of what once was.
Not long after, Brendan returned and we kept shooting for about 30 more minutes until we moved onto my favorite area, the main theater. This area was truly something out of a dream, or depending on who you are, a nightmare. The walls were adorned in beautiful gold leaf, art deco fixtures, and the ground, as well as the seats, were completely filthy.
We began in this area with what I imagined to be the most difficult and time consuming shot. This shot was titled, ‘Blockbuster’. At this point, I was very sleep deprived and dehydrated. When I wasn’t in that pose, I was planking. Getting in and out of the seats was too much of a pain, so I figured my best way of “resting” between shots was to plank. This was far more comfortable than crawling out of the seats.
My main goal with this shot was for it to look like it was taken in action and that the photo had life to it. We had to make sure that the lighting was perfect and that the symmetry of my pose was on point. I wanted both hands visible, and for the hair to not get in the way. We spent roughly about an hour on this shot, and wound up going with one of the earlier shots we first took. It’s funny how that works sometimes, but in my mind I’d rather make sure we have plenty of options. The slightest detail can make or break a photo.
After almost passing out twice during the making of ‘Blockbuster’, I was happy to be able to stand up and stretch. There was plenty to work with at this location, but we were on a tight schedule. The latest we could leave was 5PM, sharp. With only a few hours left to spare, we had to be very strategic with how we would spent the rest of our time. Hauling the gear and setting up the lighting in each area can be time consuming and end up draining a lot of the time from your schedule.
I felt that it would be best to go to the theater upstairs. I had a particular shot in mind, but wasn’t sure how long it would take. The upstairs theater is where I previously mentioned the floor being very soft in certain areas. Our anxiety was decently high, and boy was it hot as hell up there. Brendan set up the lighting in front of the theater seats as I began to brainstorm how we could pull this off as quickly as possible so that we could move on.
The upstairs theater is where we captured the shot, ’Showtime’. This shot was also quite uncomfortable and was difficult to hold in place for long periods of time. A good rule of thumb for modeling is that if it feels terrible and awkward, it usually looks great, and if it feels great, it usually looks terrible and awkward haha. This comes to mind whenever I’m in these moments of discomfort. Nailing the shot is always top priority. At about 30 minutes in, I felt we had captured what I had in mind and that we should move on.
This was a relief, not only because of the time flying by, but because of how miserably hot that room was. Quite like an oven, especially when you’re wearing latex. While Brendan carefully moved the equipment out of the theater, I captured a lot of BTS photos and video of the upstairs area. As previously mentioned, certain areas upstairs weren’t structurally sound and therefore were off limits. If there was a room that wasn’t photographed, it was because we weren’t supposed to be in there.
At this point, we were in an area that was painted a beautiful mint green. The carpets upstairs were burgundy with floral, and the walls were adorned with beautiful gold sconces, similar to what I would decorate our home with. The small area was giving me a very rundown Overlook Hotel vibe, and I was here for it.
We captured many shots here, but then it occurred to me that I really wanted more time in the main theater, which meant we had to carry everything back downstairs. We set up this time towards the back of the theater. I wanted some photos near the velvet curtains. My only fear and doubt were the giant spiders. I can do filth, I can do grime, but I don’t deal well with spiders. I pulled it together and we went forward, when suddenly inspiration struck. We were supposed to be packing up because it was almost 4:30, but I just HAD to keep going, even if it meant running outside right on time in my clown suit. This is where we captured, ‘Thriller’
We took quite a few photos in the theater seats that we loved. Those will be uploaded to Patreon at a later date. After creating more BTS content for Patreon, it was time to very quickly and frantically pack up all the gear before 5PM (sharp). Luckily we finished just in time. One of the staff members arrived to lock the theater up for the night, and we began to load our things into our rental car. At this point I began shedding my Trixy layers, which always begins with the removal of my contacts and cutting the elastic hair ties out of my hair to free the massive pigtails.
As I removed my makeup, I devoured a cold slice of pizza from the previous evening, which would be my first “meal” of the day. It was quite delicious. Once my makeup was removed, I spent the following hour or so gently brushing out and removing all of the tangles I created in my hair. When my shedding was complete, we stopped at Starbucks so Brendan could get a coffee and I could grab a spinach feta wrap. Once we were refueled, it was time to be on our way home!
As soon as we arrived back home, I took a nice long shower. When I finished my spicy Pad Thai dinner, it was time to sleep! We were very happy with how everything turned out, and now it was time to recover. The following day I began to unpack my things and then took a few hours to thoroughly look through the pictures. This is a very tedious process and requires narrowing down anywhere from 500-1000 pictures to about 8 -14.
Later that evening, Brendan and I took a look at my top 50 images from our shoot, and we, together, slimmed them down from there.
This project was incredibly exciting and rewarding to complete. I hope you guys love what we created for Trixy this year. Exclusive photos, as well as BTS for Trick or Treat and Bad Witch tier members, will be coming soon! A location tour will uploaded for Bad Witch tier members with additional BTS photos. I can’t wait for you guys to take a peek behind the curtain of what we created.
Thank you as always for your continued support!
Much love!
Angelica
Comments
Keith Schwerin
Haven't finished reading yet, but totally laughed out loud at the mental image of Trixy in sweats carrying boxes. 😂
