Graveyard Theatre Show History

In the early 1990’s Rick Thomas met Rachel Foley on a show called “Realm of magic”. Rachel was a magician’s assistant for Park Forest’s noted Horror illusionist Ron Fitzgerald. Rick was a recent graduate of Columbia College with a degree in Television Production, and was lending a hand on the show. Rick aspired to start a Horror show but the first ill attempt “Monster Party” (1995), never took off. Two years later Graveyard Theatre was born, not as you know it as today, but as a young infant with infinite potential. Originally the show used gels on the set lights, didn’t use any scripts, and the chemistry between the two characters Laslo and Demonica wasn’t quite developed yet. The characters of Rinfield, Mildew, Bane, and many others weren’t even thought of yet. Rick’s brother Jim Thomas, played the only other character on the show. Jim played a dead mail carrier named “posty” that would come in during the shows mail call segment and hand deliver the mail from the viewers. The character of Posty was short lived but it was during this time the show adopted a new crewmember that really made a turning point with the show.

Charles Hemphill was a stagehand that worked cameras and did set lighting. Charles came in just in time before the shows two previous camera operators quite the show. He told his brother Ron Hemphill about the shows new job opening and he offered his skills and talents to the show. The Hemphill brothers both being certified, worked side by side as camera operators under the direction of Director Jim Corey. Less than a year later Jim Corey left the show and Charles Hemphill filled his position in the control booth. It was around this time Charles started changing the shows old format and also started writing scripts for the show.

The shows audio boards were manned by the 6’8” Sean Injeski, who went by the nickname of “Papa”. Sean worked audio boards and helped as a stagehand, during his year on the show. He was also great for adjusting the set lighting. Doug Goins, a local FX artist and sculptor read about the show in a “Hammond Times” newspaper article from 1998. Doug learned his craft from the legendary “Dick Smith” who did effects for “The exorcist” and “Dark crystal” just to name a few. Doug offered his services to the show as make up artist and prop maker. It was Doug who created the puppet that later became the character of Mildew, the rotting corpse. It was Doug who first done the voice for Mildew and continued to do the voice for the first two years.

Brian Hemphill, the younger brother of Charles and Ron started his certification while he filmed behind the scenes footage of the shows tapings and special appearances. Such events as the shooting of the movie “Zombie zero”, which the whole cast and crew were able to be in, was one of the first things he filmed for the show. Doug Goins did the squids on the first zombie in the film that got shot, which was Mark Kinney, another crewmember of Graveyard theatre. When Brian completed his certification he joined the show as a stagehand and camera operator. Brian has remained to be the best camera operator the show has had. Brian went on to eventually edit the shows; mainly during the time the show was on WYIN, to free up time for Charles and Rick. Charles and Rick use to do the editing but suddenly had their hands full with a steady stream of viewer mail from the second station. Brian also contributed between tapings as a writer for the show.

Paul Price, a friend and neighbor to Brian also went through the certification and joined the show the same time Brian did. Paul acted as a stagehand/camera operator that also did slate boards for the show. Paul being the youngest member of Graveyard Theatre, at 17 and also being a senior in High school didn’t have a whole lot of free time so his stint on the show was short lived. Paul worked on the show for about a year and thanks to his help as a second camera operator a new character emerged and snuck into the castle by the name of Rinfield Jones, the wacky neighbor that lived somewhere out in the graveyard.

After Paul left the show it wasn’t uncommon for Brian to operate three cameras himself during a show taping until Mark Kinney jumped on board. Mark Kinney, of Hammond, heard about the show through the Hemphill Brothers. Mark became certified and helped the show in the capacity of stagehand and fog person. Mark had to leave the show due to his work schedule conflicting with the shows taping times. He worked on the show between 1999 and 2001; it was during this time the show was picked up by WYIN channel 56 out of Merrillville, Indiana.

Graveyard Theatre made shows for WYIN for a year and a half. The show came on every Saturday night at 9:30 for two hours. Graveyard Theatre quickly began beating out the ever-popular “Doctor who” series, which until Graveyard Theatre came around lead the programming lineup for Saturday nights. Brian Hemphill edited the show during its time on WYIN. The show stopped airing on WYIN when the Programming manager of the station left and the new Programming manager changed the lineup on Saturday nights and compensation couldn’t be met.

The entire time the show aired on WYIN, Graveyard Theatre still did and still does till this day remain loyal to all the fans who made them what they are, and remained on channel 16, where they begun. While airing on WYIN, Graveyard Theatre met Ryan Beal, who done Master Control on Saturday nights. Ryan originally started helping the show by being a wacky characters that Rinfield usually would drag in. With Ryan’s background and training he was able to assist the show in a lot of areas such as stagehand, cameras, and audio boards. In august of 2003 he even took over editing until he left the show because of time restraints with his new business. Brian then again resumed the position of editing getting a slight break for about a half a year when Chris Mojica took over editing.

Vanessa Langford, of Chicago Heights is the youngest sister of Rachel Foley who plays Demonica on the show. Vanessa was certified and began helping the show in 2000 doing a variety of jobs ranging from slate board, shooting fog, assisting on cameras, set directing, to answering calls during live shows. Vanessa still shows up and helps where and when needed. Her most important job is making sure Rachel has a ride to the studio for show tapings.

At the same time Vanessa started her certification so did Damon Spragia. Damon started off helping the show as a stagehand and quickly volunteered to work the puppet of Mildew, the rotting corpse. From the first time Damon did the voice of Mildew no one on the show could believe the similarity between Doug Goin’s version of the voice and Damon’s version. The two voices were almost identical from two people who never heard, let alone meet one another, until three years later.

About six months after Damon started doing the show Cait Foltman, who made the trip each week with Damon and watched the show tapings decided to get certified to help the show. At first she worked the fog and worked set props. Cait eventually assisted Brian on cameras and helped the show for about two years. Cait is currently in art school and show tapings conflict with her school hours. She assist when she can.

Karen Kenzie, of Gary, Indiana started working with Graveyard Theatre in 2002. Karen started as a stagehand and camera operator but quickly volunteered for any opening that was available at the time. With her drive and motivation, and her dedication to the quality of the show she quickly became Assistant Director. Unfortunately due to the lack of time and the many objectives on her agenda she had to leave the show. She recently graduated with a degree in Television Production and skates in a Roller Derby league, “The Chi-Town Sirens” as “Patsy Blue Ribbon“, for fun.

Adam Blank, a friend of Karen’s, that was a fan and collector of Horror movies would make the trip with her to the studio to watch us film skits for the show. He supplied the movies we used for the show out of his personal private movie library of Horror and Science Fiction. He also did research on the films and would make sure they were public domain and include trivia facts about the movie and its actors.

Chano Chavez, of schererville, Indiana first appeared on a Graveyard Theatre live show to promote his wrestling federation "ARE", in 2003. Quickly Chano, being the businessman that he is, began assisting the show in the capacity of promotional manager for the show, advertising, and financial advisement with conventions and other special events that the show would do. Chano has also played a few bit parts in the shows past, the most memorable characters being "Cookie, the cook" and "Joey Boom Boom". Chano was the person that came up with the GYT studio idea, in which he financed, coordinated, supervised, and promoted on his own the project of the show having and filming in their own studio, all paid for by sponsors. Chano is an invaluable member of the show and has other great plans for Graveyard Theatre and his Wrestling Federation "ARE' to do an mixture of the two shows at once.

Ward Doepping first met the cast and crew of Graveyard Theatre at the Wizard World Convention in Chicago, Illinois, in 2003. Less than a month later he was on one of the live shows representing ARE, the wrestling federation he was the champ of. Ward left such an impression with the cast, crew, and viewers, that Graveyard Theatre asked him to come back as a full time character. Ward became “Bane” an executioner/cook that was suppose to protect laslo but never did. In fact, half of the scrapes Laslo had were a direct result of Banes evil intentions. Ward also assisted the Hemphill brothers with the scriptwriting and with creative advisement. On Tuesday March 21, 2006 Ward passed away from a heart attack. He was a great person and will truly be missed by all that knew him.

Paul peltzer, of Hammond, Indiana is the newest crew member the show adopted. Paul was found shivering in the hallway at the studio, and we felt sorry for him and made the mistake and talked to him. Just joking, Paul is really a good friend of all the Hemphill brothers. Paul use to play drums in a band called “The Roxy Parker Band”, with Ron Hemphill, who played bass. Paul was with Ron the first time they had their first ghost experience. Paul became certified and began helping the show out full time in 2005 answering phones during live shows, generating sound effects, and monitoring the audio boards. In his spare time Paul makes games, writes books, and makes music all balancing on one foot.

Special mention and thanks to Rob Shultz, of Hammond, Indiana. Rob assist the show as Technical Assistant and Technical Advisor. Rob also is the Studio Manager so he is the person that allows the show to be recorded, so everyone tries to be very nice to him. It isn’t to hard, Rob is a nice guy and is highly certified for his job. Rob also teaches collage courses in Television Productions. Rob has been at the studio when the show first aired.

Another special mention and thanks goes out to Carlos Godinez, of East Chicago, Indiana, whom is Robs assistant that takes care of the studio when Rob isn’t there. Carlos helps the show out in the capacity of Technical Assistant and Technical Advisor in the control booth with Charles Hemphill and with Brian Hemphill with the cameras when ever needed. Carlos also puts up the show graphics on the CG board.

Another big thanks to Ron Mlynek, that lives somewhere in Illinois. He is a big time Horror movie buff, and also can play guitar well also. He is our biggest fan and travels around a hour each week to see the cast and crew. He watches while the characters act out the skits and the crew perform their magic and actually make the cast look good. It is unknown how long he has been there, it is suspected he started coming when the show aired on WYIN and would have open tapings so fans of the show could come to the studio and watch. The show really appreciates his dedication and it is for people like him we make the show for.

There have been other cast and crew members of the show but they are in the dark side of the graveyard and it isn’t wise to go to that side. For fear to our fans and viewers the show feels it not wise to expose you to that side. Due to a lack of time and space Graveyard Theatre thinks it more wise to leave the past alone and move forward with their future.

The show has been in magazines, newspapers, been in the news, been in a couple of movies, been on live broadcast TV stations, been on countless radio stations, been to conventions and events of all sorts from haunted houses and haunted pumpkin patches to Star Trek, Comic, and SCI-FI/Horror conventions. Working on the show you meet a lot of celebrities and some strange people too, but it is always fun and a learning experience. We have completed a lot in the years for just starting out as a glorified hobby. The show currently is in negotiations for some good things to come, so something to look forward to. Can’t let the cat out of the bag just yet. Only time can tell what the future has in store for us all.