Party, drink and dance the night away at this 19th-century prison

You've likely never experienced something quite like Party at the Pen: The Masquerade.

The annual unpredictable gala is an immersive, interactive ball held for two nights across the sprawling, 11-acre grounds of Eastern State Penitentiary, a former prison turned National Historic Landmark in the center of Philadelphia.

Party at the Pen, a sort of spiritual continuation of Eastern State's Halloween season spectacular Terror Behind the Walls, returns 9 p.m. Friday, May 10 and Saturday, May 11.

(For an inside look at Terror Behind the Walls 2018, watch the video at the top of this story.)

The celebration involves an open-bar dance party as well as surprises lurking in many of the facility's cell blocks. Guests can easily happen upon cabaret performances, a drag show, black light dance numbers or a food truck court, or find themselves whisked into private scenes with costumed performers.

"It's designed to be interactive, and it's designed that even if you come and your friend comes and you talk at the end of the night, you're both not going to have (had) the exact same experience," said vice president and director of operations Brett Bertolino. "And that's similar to what we do at Terror Behind the Walls where we want to give people these really unique, memorable moments that they're not going to forget."

Party at the Pen utilizes the striking 19th-century architecture of Eastern State, as well as theatrical lighting and sound effects, to transform the building into an entertainment space.

Bertolino stressed, however, that the Masquerade and Terror Behind the Walls are crafted with respect to the history of the site, which operated as a prison from 1829 to 1971 and held approximately 75,000 inmates behind its 30-foot walls. For more than 20 years, it has operated as an educational historical site.

There will never be a simulated execution, depictions of inmates being harassed or shown in a negative light or any staged insane asylum sets, Bertolino stated. 

"We really try and be sensitive and we don't think that it actually hurts the product," he said. "We actually think that it drives our creative team to really push themselves and determine how they can create these memorable experiences while still being sensitive to the building's history and still being sensitive to what's happening in this country today."

Eastern State offers educational daytime tours of its facility, working to educate attendees on the history of the prison system through modern day.

Earlier this month, it launched its 2019 season with the debut of a newly-restored cell transformed into how it likely would have appeared when mobster Al Capone was incarcerated there 90 years ago, along with three new site-specific art installations.

"Our programming really dives into the mass incarceration epidemic that's happening now," said Bertolino. "And so we, on a daily basis every day during our daytime prison tours, are talking about really important topics, topics that are critical to our country, and they're heavy topics and we don't make light of them. And so at Terror Behind the Walls, at the Masquerade, we make sure that we are as sensitive as we possibly can (be) about Eastern State's history but also just about incarcerated people in general."

Party at the Pen: The Masquerade

When: 9 p.m. Friday, May 10 and Saturday, May 11

Where: Eastern State Penitentiary, 2027 Fairmount Ave., Philadelphia

Tickets: Sold out

On the web: www.easternstate.org/halloween/party-pen-masquerade