MONTCLAIR — Police tonight shut down what has been billed as the "world's largest blacklight party" at the Wellmont Theatre in downtown Montclair after a "heavily intoxicated" crowd of several thousand young people became unruly, authorities said.

Police from Montclair and surrounding towns were called to the theater along Bloomfield Avenue at about 9 p.m. to disperse a crowd of between 2,000 and 3,000 people outside the theater.

Six people were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and may face additional charges, Lt. Emil Dul said. In addition, 20 people were taken to area hospitals. A spokeswoman for Mountainside Hospital in Glen Ridge said 10 people — five women and five men between the ages of 18 and 24 — were taken there for treatment of symptoms related to alcohol poisoning.

Their conditions were not considered life-threatening, the spokeswoman said, adding that the ambulances began arriving at about 8:15 p.m.

Montclair Police Chief David Sabagh described the crowd as mainly college-age and “heavily intoxicated.”

Doors to the sold-out show, which was for people 18 and older, opened at 8 p.m. The event was scheduled to begin at 9:45 p.m. and conclude at midnight, according the Wellmont Theatre’s website.

The show was part of the Barstool Blackout Tour, which dubs itself as the “World’s Largest Blacklight Party.”

The Barstool Blackout Tour’s Facebook page described the event as: “Touring the nation leaving nothing but a path of destruction in its wake. Lazers, Fog, Blacklights, Stroked and Everything that Glows right in your eyeball. An absolute orgy of sound and lights for all your senses.” The series of shows that began in February has been held at venues all along the East Coast.

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Dul said people arrived at the theater drunk.

“There were three people totally intoxicated who couldn’t stand up,” said Dul, the on-scene commander. “Then I find this girl in a crowd of people passed out and people were walking all over her. I had to drag her out of there with another officer.

“That was the breaking point,” he said, adding that’s when he made the decision to cancel the show about 9 p.m.

Frank O’Connor, 20, of Florham Park, had been hired as a DJ to host a party after the “blacklight” party, a gig for which he was to be paid $750. Not only was the lost income a disappointment, but he said he’d also paid $100 for a ticket to see the main party.

He said the crowd was waiting in line outside the theater when about a half-dozen women passed out. He said he didn’t know why they collapsed.

“As soon as it happened, the cops pushed us off (the premises),” he said. “I didn’t even get paid. Very few, if any, of the crowd got inside the theater.”

O’Connor said “blacklight parties” are popular on college campuses, and he has been to several, including one at Rutgers. He described the events as similar to a house party, but at a venue, with DJs, music, dancing and alcohol.

In the days leading up to the Montclair show, tickets were being bought and sold through Facebook posts on the theater’s website.

Partygoers who had traveled hours for last night’s event were quick to criticize Montclair authorities and the organizers on Facebook.

“I was at the Paramount blackout and that got shut down,” said one commenter. “We drove from long island to montclair and now this got shut down?!”

Earlier this month, a Barstool Blackout show was shut down in Huntington, N.Y., and nine attendees were taken to the hospital with symptoms of alcohol poisoning.

By Tomas Dinges and Victoria St. Martin/Star-Ledger Staff