The zombies feast on Clayton Rocha. Photo via Lucy Hoffman
“10 Ways to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse”
ACP's first production in over a year is a fun, silly success.
After a theatre-less year in the 2016-17 school year, the drama program is back! I was very excited to hear that there would be a couple productions this year, especially when I think back on the Aladdin and Dead Air performances from my freshman and sophomore years. Thank you Miss Lahrman for bringing theatre back to ACP!
Nate’s Review
The name of the play is “10 Ways to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse,” written by Don Zolidis. As you can probably tell by the name, the show is a lighthearted comedy in which two “zombie survival experts” inform the audience on how to fend off the zombie horde. I was a big fan of the format; the hilarious zombie-survival experts (played on Wednesday night by Sean Gallegos and Emily Rake) introduce an outrageous survival tip, which is then carried out by our four zombie survivors. The tips worked to, uh, varied success, most of the time ending with a victory for the zombies.
I wanted to highlight a star of the show in this article, but I keep debating between pretty much every member of the cast. The acting was excellent from top-to-bottom; one of the guest extras, Ms. Edwards, commented on the chemistry that the cast had. They were high-fiving, fist-bumping, and celebrating back stage after every successful scene. If I had to pick a favorite actor, it would probably be Clayton Rocha. He played a character by the name of Jimmy, a man who struck out with the ladies more times than I could count. Maybe I just found his struggle to be relatable.
MacKenzie Rhodes and Miranda Vega also crushed their roles, fending off advances from both the zombies and the two male survivors. And Nadeem… as if he wasn’t already well-rounded enough, Nadeem Shiban came out and gave a heck of a performance as the fourth survivor. He and zombified Sean Cygan engaged in a hysterical kung-fu scene at one point, one of my favorite parts of the show.
Perhaps the most impressive part of the show was the limited amount of time that theatre has had to rehearse. Sean Gallegos informed me that they did not receive the scripts until Thanksgiving break, leaving the actors only two weeks to learn their lines. Watching the play, you’d think they’ve been preparing for months. The production went on very smoothly, all the actors were very comfortable in their roles.
Before heading to the play, make sure you have the right expectations. This is no three-hour long Broadway production. “10 Ways” was silly, fun, and fast; the entire play lasted about a half-hour. I would highly recommend going either Thursday or Saturday night – kudos to the drama program!
