From the Wichita Eagle archives, a Wichita Community Theatre production of The Zombie from 1993. Our current production of The Zombie continues tonight at 8pm! 686-1282 for reservations. COMMUNITY THEATRE FEATURES THE ZOMBIE -------------------------------------------------- Wichita Eagle, The (KS)-October 25, 1993 Author: Susan L. Rife, The Wichita Eagle The Zombie, Wichita Community Theatre Forget the so-called haunted houses this Halloween; for my money, the spookiest, silliest, scariest things that go bump in the night effort is the Wichita Community Theatre production of Tim Kellys The Zombie. Set in what is euphemistically described as a decaying mansion on the edge of Floridas Okefenokee Swamp, The Zombie assembles a mad doctor bent on avenging a failed love affair, a crooked sheriff with his hand always in the cookie jar, a voodoo priestess, a soap opera star and two friends and a zombie chain gang for a 75-minute spooktacular romp. Director Stephen Broker keeps the pace snappy and the patter brisk without sacrificing clarity. And his central casting choice of area theater veteran Walter Thomas Stewart as the mad Dr. Samedi is essential to the ultimate success of the play. Stewarts Samedi, punctuating his smooth conversation with tsk tsks of false sympathy, can move from smarmy insincerity to deadly rage in a flash. Creepy from the outset, he moves quickly into a terrifying psychotic anger, all the while denying it: INTENSE maybe, not psycho, he tells his unwary visitors, soap-opera star Vivian Garth, her fiance Adam Connors and her friend Rosemary, who have unwittingly fallen into his trap. Samedis stupid assistant, greedy sheriff Cartwright, is played to a dithering T by Mark Reno, who struts about the cobweb-bedecked living room like a rooster until Samedi grinds him under his heel with a withering word. Joan McConnell has a field day as the voodoo queen housekeeper Mama Matrisse, who has someone to protect in the house. As the unwitting visitors, Cindy Wetzel, Terri Cooper and Keith Lewandowski are appropriately first skeptical, then hysterical especially when they start bumping into the little experiments Samedi keeps in the basement. The zombie crew is led by John Caporale, who has mastered the walk of the living dead. His chain gang cohorts are Delno Mendenhall, Crystal Meek and Randi Petrich as the newest zombie, Margo. All three get superb makeup treatments by designers Mike Wasson and Mary Tush. Jackie Donahues lighting design is as creepy as the uncredited set design. Additional performances at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Wichita Community Theatre Workshop, 258 N. Fountain. Tickets are $6, $4 for senior citizens and students. Copyright (c) 1993 The Wichita Eagle
Posted on: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 14:00:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015