Character: Nathan Edmondson

Age: 29.
Known best as: Co-founder of the three-person, Philly-based improv group Rare Bird Show, performing at the Philadelphia Improv Festival on October 3rd.
Why we’re watching (with both eyes open) now: Returns, for the second year, as actor and theatrical director of Eastern State Penitentiary’s annual haunted house, “Terror Behind the Walls” (through 11/7).
How one directs a staff made up entirely of zombies: “I give them scripted lines for their character and their spot, and they come up with stuff on their own.”
His motto: “Rude is not scary.” This year he ran an improv workshop for the actors, with tips on how to use their bodies and words to scare — politely — the bejesus out of attendees.
His signature character: He plays “everything.” A deranged janitor — who repeatedly mumbles “Who made this mess?” — is a personal favorite.
If the scarer ever gets scared: “You feel like you’re nine years old sometimes, walking back by yourself as the show’s ending. It’s a creepy space.”