BUENA PARK : Monstrous Search On at Knott’s

Robert Meitzler’s long search for work led the Buena Park man to a stage at Knott’s Berry Farm Monday, where he and about 275 other job-seekers were asked to crawl, act as if they weighed 5,000 pounds and pretend that a cement block was attached to their legs.

It was a job interview like no other for Meitzler, who is accustomed to questions about qualifications and references at the personnel offices he’s visited. Here, there was only one qualification: An ability to scare people.

If he’s hired, Meitzler will be outfitted in some ghostly costume--perhaps with a little fake blood around the mouth--and spend 11 nights in October and November roaming around Knott’s Berry Farm trying to frighten visitors.

Knott’s plans to hire 500 people for monster roles during its annual Halloween Haunt show. More auditions will be held Wednesday and next Tuesday. The $4.58-an-hour wage and late-night shifts didn’t deter aspiring actors, students, the unemployed and the underemployed from converging on the Buena Park amusement park Monday for a tryout.

“The pay doesn’t matter to me. I’m doing it just for the fun,” said Rich Barrientos, 23, a Saddleback College student. “I like scaring people and dressing up. It looks like I’d enjoy it.”

For some, the audition was just the right mix of employment and fun they needed during this economic downturn.

“This is a way for me to make a little extra money for school,” said Rudy Guerena, 18, of La Puente, who plans to enter a trade school in November. “It’s hard to find work when you are just out of high school and don’t have any experience. This is something different to do.”

Others in the audition line agreed, adding that what the job lacks in compensation it makes up for in good times. “It looks like it could be a fun job,” said Meitzler, 18, who saw a sign advertising the audition earlier in the day and decided that it was worth a try. “It would be good to earn a little extra money. I hope I get it.”

Chances are he will. Most people who audition will be offered some kind of role, but only the most monstrous of the lot will get starring roles where they deal most directly with the public.

To find those A-list ghouls, park officials led participants onto a stage in groups and asked them to perform their reactions to certain situations, such as weighing 5,000 pounds, having a hand on fire, or being surrounded by a swarm of “stinging flies.”

“This is not the job to worry about looking dumb,” Amanda McTigue, manager of show development, told those auditioning.

Eventually, each performer will be assigned a specific role. Each monster role has certain characteristics--a blood-spitting habit or a tendency to shriek, for example--that the actors play off during performances.

The monsters go through hours of training before the first show and are warned against touching or repeatedly harassing visitors, said Stuart A. Zanville, spokesman for the park.

* UNIVERSAL FRIGHT: The movie studio theme park has scary plans of its own. D5