FAYETTEVILLE — Being a zombie isn’t easy.
But the young actors of Arts Live Theatre’s “Night of the Living Dead” obviously dig the challenge.
“Being a zombie deals a lot with movement and facial expressions, so it’s a little bit more difficult than what I’ve done before,” says Sarah Hierholzer, 13, a student at Woodland Junior High in Fayetteville. “We may not be the lead roles, but we are the backbone of the story. The zombies are the whole reason for the show.”
These zombies - the foot-dragging, low-moaning, slow-moving kind - owe their existence to filmmaker George Romero, who shot the cult classic “Night of the Living Dead” in black and white in 1968. The ultralow-budget movie spawned a trilogy - rounded out by “Dawn of the Dead” in 1978 and “Day of the Dead” in 1985 - a remake in 1990 and a host of imitators.
The original film also inspired playwright Mark Landon Smith’s adaptation.
Romero, he explains, never copyrighted his story, which put the “Night of the Living Dead” in the public domain.
Smith, the executive artistic director of Arts Live, bowed toward the archetype and then went in his own direction, adding references specific to Northwest Arkansas and comedy appropriate for young audiences. Like the film, the children’s production is set in an abandoned farmhouseduring an attack of flesheating undead. But these zombies are just plain fun, says director Jules Taylor.
“It’s rated ‘G,’ and it’s not really scary even for 3-yearolds,” she says.
Generating a lot of the laughs are the cast’syoungest (and arguably most enthusiastic) actor, Keenan Addington, 9 - who says being a zombie is “very, very, very cool” - and the oldest actor, Zach Stolz, 17, who plays a bumbling hero he based on Brad in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and Hysterium in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.”
“At first I was thinking of the heroes from the 1950s and ’60s,” says Stolz, a senior at Fayetteville High School.
“But Jules pulled me aside and told me to make him a little more neurotic. Basically, he’s hysterical and just wants everyone around him to calm down.”
Staying calm is vital when you’re the senior actor in thecompany, Stolz says, but the rewards are worth it.
“There is some responsibility you put on yourself to set an example,” says the four-year Arts Live veteran. “I remember looking up to the older kids during my first shows, and I want to pay that back. I’m really proud to see the younger kids step up and embrace theater and succeed.”
Like Stolz, Keenan Addington and Sarah Hierholzer both want to pursue acting as a career. But first, they’ve got to outrun the zombies - or catch the humans. Learning about each other and themselves just happens as they go.
“Theater is like life that way,” Taylor says.
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FYI
ARTS LIVE HAUNTED ‘LOBBY’
For “Night of the Living Dead” patrons, getting there will be half the fun. Audiences will enter performances through a haunted lobby.
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FAQ
‘NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD’
WHEN - 7 p.m. today; 2 & 7 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday
WHERE - Arts Live Theatre, 818 N. Sang Ave. in Fayetteville
COST - $4 for ages 12 & younger; $6 for ages 13 & older
INFO - 521-4932 or artslivetheatre.com
Whats Up, Pages 21 on 10/29/2010