It's not what a director usually wants from her actors.

"You've got to be more dead," Donna Fisher advised a young actress during rehearsal Saturday.

"Be real slow," she said. "Be very morbid."

Fisher and her Painted Past Productions cast rehearsed in Highland Cemetery for a show they'll put on the next two weekends.

They're taking their annual cemetery tour and livening it up a bit with some living dead. Actors will lurk in the darkness near the graves of the dead people they're portraying, then come out of the shadows to perform historic vignettes in character.

They hope lots of people come - tickets are $25 and will support the actors' tour to Germany in late October. But they're not going for Oktoberfest - they're going to entertain the children and families of American military living on bases there.

They'll perform a children's musical about monsters and for the adults, a live-action version of the murder-mystery board game Clue.

Fisher has a friend who directs plays on military bases abroad through the Army's Morale, Welfare and Recreation division. Fisher's friend said military families are interested in material for children. Fisher thought she'd never be able to raise the money to take her actors to Germany, so she tried to drop the idea, she said, but it kept nagging at her.

She got connected with Armed Forces Entertainment, and had good luck winning grants and donations from the community. The money raised through the cemetery tour will help the actors pay for food and incidentals on their trip.

Actress Angel Helm, who portrays Casper educator Verda James in the tour, said her family has a long history of military service and she hopes to contribute in some way.

"It's something I can do that gives back to the people who serve our country," she said.

Portraying Verda James gave her some insight into the city's past. Before, "They were just names that you never thought about."

Even though they rehearsed on a sunny fall day, the actors couldn't keep the ghost stories from getting to them. Mike Mullen, who will guide the tour, tested out his Grim Reaper costume.

"Ooh, God, that just gives me the willies," Donna Fisher said, walking behind him on a cemetery path.

Jason Magnuson, who portrays oilman Cy Iba, wondered if he could jump out from behind Iba's mausoleum.

"How bad are we allowed to scare people?" he asked Fisher.

But later he balked at the idea of a costume change that had him moving from one area of the cemetery to the other, in the middle of the play.

He decided he better bring a flashlight.

"I'm not walking across there in the dark by myself."

Reach Barbara Nordby at (307) 266-0633 or at barbara.nordby@casperstartribune.net.