Eating your brain isn’t the only thing on zombies’ minds. They’re also into singing and dancing.
The Promethean Theatre’s latest production is a remake of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead series. NSU’s professional theater company has brought this musical adaptation of these1980s cult-classic movies to life in the Black Box Theatre.
Producing Artistic Director of the play and Co-founder of The Promethean Theatre Deborah L. Sherman said, “You don’t have to be a fan of the Evil Dead series to enjoy it. You have to be a fan of not taking things too seriously. So, you can come to the show and your brain can take a two-hour vacation — a bloody vacation.”
The play follows five college students staying in a cabin in the woods. There, they find “The book of the dead” and, conveniently, the book on tape. After playing the tape, they turn into zombies. Ash, the protagonist and non-zombie, must make sure the evil dead don’t leave the cabin alive — or deader.
The play combines the three movies, but keeps a coherent story. Jamie Mattocks, a professional actor who plays Linda (Ash’s girlfriend), said the play is easier to follow than the movies.
She added that this is not your typical musical. It features rock ‘n’ roll music and a two-row splatterzone. Everyone sitting in the fi rst two rows of the theater is sprayed with blood, kind of like Lolita’s splash zone at the Miami Seaquarium.
Mattocks said, “It’s better than watching the movies because you get all the visual effects of a movie, but it’s live on stage.”
The stage of the Black Box Theatre was transformed into the cabin where most of the show takes place. Traps were added to the floor and effects were created to make thecabin seem as haunted as the one in the movies.
“The set is like another character in the show, a whole other living entity,” said Mattocks.
“Evil Dead: The Musical” also gave NSU students interested in theater an opportunity to learn from and work with experienced cast and crew members. Jaimie Kautzmann is a sophomore theater major and intern on the set.
“It was fun working with a real director, real actors and real producers who have done millions of shows before. I learned a lot,” she said.
Besides dancing zombies, the production also contains your standard horror fare: profanity; simulated blood, sexual situations and gunshots. The musical version, written in 2003 by Canadian writer George Reinblatt, has been well received by audiences in Toronto and the U.S. NSU’s production is directed by Margaret M. Ledford, the theater’s technical manager and resident director.
“Evil Dead: The Musical” will run until Sept.12. Shows are on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m. Tickets are available at the door: $10 for students under 25 with NSU ID, $15 for other students and $25 for the general public. The Black Box Theatre is located in the Performing and Visual Arts Center inside the Don Taft University Center.
