If you have not yet solidified your plans for how to spend this Halloween evening, then arouse yourself from the dead and go see Happy Medium Theatre's staged reading of "The Night of the Living Dead." It is a ghoulish delight. "Staged reading" usually signifies actors standing or sitting statically on stage with scripts in hand. Such is not the case with this performance. The actors are moving all over the space, acting out their parts with equal measures of delight and camp. Over-the-top performances are de rigeur for this fun romp through the resurrected classic story. In last night's performance, the cast members were having the time of their lives, improvising around the sudden thunder storm that raged outside the windows of the Factory Theatre - nature attuning itself to the violence being portrayed within the dusty brick walls of the old piano factory. It felt like a "Rocky Horror" event, with audience members yelling out at the cast and commenting on the action.
Broadway's smash hit, Newsies, has a beloved character known as "Crutchie." Not to be outdone, this production of "Night of the Living Dead" has its own "Crutchie," as played by Chrishtian Mancinas-Garcia. There is wonderful "mad scientist" monologue by Devon Scalisi, clearly inspired by Peter Seller's in "Dr. Stangelove." Michael Underhill's Police Chief, with undertones of Casey Affleck's South Boston accent, is worth the price of admission. Joey C. Pelletier is his usual arch and amusing self in several roles - zombie, newscaster, one man Greek chorus.
This is fun stuff - a great way to spend All Hallows Eve at the theatre. If you come in costume - all the better.
Happy Medium Theatre proudly presents a special Halloween treat:
The Night of the Living Dead (A Staged Reading)
Starring: Elizabeth Battey, Deirdre Benson, Mikey DiLoreto, Terrence Patrick Haddad, Robyn Linden, Cristhian Mancinas-Garcia, Lesley Anne Moreau, Bob Mussett, Joey C. Pelletier, Devon Scalisi, and Michael Underhill
The Night of the Living Dead: Chaos descends upon the world as the brains of the recently deceased become inexplicably reanimated, causing the dead to rise and feed on human flesh. Speculation rests on a radiation-covered NASA satellite returning from Venus, but it only remains a speculation. Anyone who dies during the crisis of causes unrelated to brain trauma will return as a flesh-eating zombie, including anyone who has been bitten by a zombie. The only way to destroy the zombies is to destroy the brain. As the catastrophe unfolds, a young woman (Robyn Linden) visiting her father's grave takes refuge in a nearby farmhouse, where she is met by a man (Cristhian Mancinas-Garcia) who protects her and barricades them inside. They both later discover people hiding in the basement, and they each attempt to cope with the situation. Their only hope rests on getting some gasoline from a nearby pump into a truck that is running on empty, but this requires braving the hordes of ravenous walking corpses outside. When they finally put their plans into action, panic and personal tensions only add to the terror as they try to survive.
TICKET INFORMATION:
A suggested donation of $3 to $5 will gain our victims entry to the reading...and maybe a little bit of wine too! To reserve a seat, email Mikey DiLoreto at mikeydiloreto@gmail.com
WHERE:
The Factory Theatre/Sloan Community Room (Upstairs from the Theatre)
WHEN:
Wednesday, October 31st, 2012 at 8 p.m.
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