Kyle Kosiboski is the Operations Manager of Screamin’ Acres, a haunted house located in Stoughton. He graduated from UW-Platteville in spring 2018 with a building construction management degree and minor in business administration. The Exponent had the opportunity to interview Kosiboski on his recent successes after UW-Platteville.
How long has Screamin’ Acres been open for?
2023 marks the 12th season of production for Screamin’ Acres, but the 13th year in business. The pandemic shut us down for one season. I have been part of Screamin’ Acres since Oct. 2018, and took on the role of Operations Director in April 2022.
What does your haunted house feature?
Screamin Acres has a little bit of everything! Our four attractions are Slaughterhouse, Lockup, The Last Resort and Side Effects: Recharged.
Slaughterhouse is our blood and gore attraction, with a lot of animal/human hybrid characters, and a more intense vibe.
Lockup is an entirely prison-themed attraction. Lockup was my first big project for 2022. After gutting a former attraction to the shell, Lockup was designed, built, decorated and completed in a matter of about five months.
The Last Resort is more of a classic mansion haunted attraction.
Side Effects: Recharged is an entirely blacklight-lit 3D attraction. Side Effects was gutted last Nov., and entirely rebuilt over the winter months.
In May, the lead makeup artist for Screamin’ Acres took over on mural painting and set design in this attraction, while I took on a very large new outdoor area full of buildings and streets. One of our catchphrases is “From guts and gore, to clowns and more, Screamin’ Acres has you covered!” We like to think that we appeal to a wide array of audiences.
How much work does it take to run the haunted house? Describe that process.
It takes a lot more work than most people think! This is my full-time, year-round job; the process for next year has already begun with conceptualizing ideas and drawing floor plans. Once this season ends, there’s a little bit of winterizing to do, and then its right back into tearing down sets and rebuilding new sets.
Each year, thousands of dollars and hours go into the production to keep it evolving and getting bigger and better to keep folks coming back year after year. Come Sept. and Oct., when most people are just starting to dust off their Halloween decorations, I am putting finishing touches on and turning the lights on to get everything up and ready for customers.
What is the process of graduating from Platteville to running your haunted house?
After graduating, I moved to the Madison area to pursue my career in construction. I worked for a smaller commercial general contractor as a Project Manager in the office for approximately a year and a half before taking on a position as a combination Project Manager/Job Superintendent and moving out into the field onto job sites.
After about three years with this company, I took a position with a different commercial general contractor as a Job Superintendent for about a year before I was offered the Operations Director position at Screamin’ Acres.
I have always had a love for Halloween and haunted houses, but unfortunately fell out of that while in Platteville, due to the lack of haunted houses nearby.
When I decided on moving to Madison, I applied to Screamin’ Acres as an actor and jumped in headfirst in Oct. of 2018, as an attraction manager. Quickly, I was brought onto the Screamin’ Acres build crew, then moved up to General Manager, which is a title I held for about three years. In April of 2022 I accepted the position as the full-time Operations Manager and left the “normal” construction industry.
How do you incorporate your degree into your work now?
A majority of time throughout the year is spent tearing down and rebuilding our highly detailed sets. The experience I gained through the Construction Lab, Wood Tech and other hands-on courses was incredibly helpful in all of this.
In late summer and fall, my gears turn towards managing our staff as well as all of our customers every night that we are in production. Screamin’ Acres has over 100 actors and staff on payroll, with around 80 on staff each night.
Both of these elements are the epitome of the BCM degree, in my mind. Other tasks, such as marketing, organizing event insurance and vendors, scheduling, etc. fall more into my business administration minor.
What is a piece of advice that you would give to UW-Platteville students?
My biggest piece of advice is to find the balance between school and fun. I was lucky enough to find a group of friends that were able to create our own fun and keep ourselves busy when classes were done.
Another bit of advice would be put yourself out there, especially in your career field. Take advantage of all the career fairs and meet-and-greet opportunities that campus throws your way. These are the low-hanging fruit of getting your foot in the door to where you want to end up.
I got my first job out of college, in Madison, by meeting the owner of the company in a hotel lobby while attending the Construction Management Competition through the Associated Builders and Contractors conference in Orlando, FL.
Screamin’ Acres has three more open nights available: Oct. 27 and 28 and Nov. 4 before closing for the year. For more information, their website is www.screaminacres.com.
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