Art copyright by Ashton EB Cutright. See http://passiveterrain.com.
I'm excited about our upcoming comedy-mystery (or as my friend/zombie godfather Scott Emerson calls it, "zom-com") "Zombie Texts from the Future."
"Zombie Texts from the Future" begins at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 29 through Saturday, Nov. 1 at the Monongalia Arts Center (MAC), 107 High St., located beside the Clarion Hotel Morgan in downtown Morgantown, West Virginia. Join/share the Facebook event to be sure you & your friends get all the updates.
Director Mara Monaghan is bringing her myriad skills & unique vision to this zombie-rific MACPlayers production. It's been a great experience working with Mara. I'm thrilled with the talented cast: Donnelle Bohnke, Derek Brown, Sadie Crow, Tracy Lynch, and Josh Rocchi.
Thanks to the director and cast, as well as everyone who auditioned and the talented people who have been providing input, feedback, helping with set build, painting, sound, lights, stage management and much more: Ashton EB Cutright (the multifaceted artist who created the zombie character above to help us promote the show), Roger Banks MACPlayers theatre coordinator, Richard Dumas, Mary Rath, Seret Cole, Sami Rose, Ro Brooks, Daniel Gibbons.
Special thanks to Swing Dance WVU, Morgantown Swing, including Amy Loomis, David Loomis, Cori Skidmore. Appreciation to friends for the support/inspiration: Donald Carl Fidler/Playwrights Group, George Lies/Morgantown Writers Group, Scott Emerson/Morgantown Poets, north-central West Virginia comedy community, including the comedians who perform weekly at 4th & Goal.
If you're wondering what this outrageous "B-movie" titled"Zombie Texts from the Future" is all about, think "Pi" meets "Rocky Horror Picture Show" (insofar as my hopes for audience-interaction) meets Mel Brooks/Gene Wilder "Young Frankenstein." Of course there are healthy doses of my own obsessions with the future, Dr. Ronald L. Mallett (who I heard speak at WVU) & reading his book, "Time Traveler," technology and society (you'll recognize some of my thoughts on tech/society, illusion/reality if you're read my dystopian "STARLING" series.) My hat's off to George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead," his many outstanding zombie films as excellent social commentary.
As the author, I can give you give you a sneak preview of "Zombie Texts from the Future"...
Imagine you get a random text message on your cell phone. But the message is from an unknown number and consists of only one word: "sushi" (or "ketchup," "pizza," "wine," take your pick...)
Soon after receiving these one-word messages, the food in question "mysteriously" appears, as if by magic.
At first, you think the messages are a prank from your obnoxious roommate or your significant other.
But gradually, as you run out of logical explanations, you begin to believe that something else might be going on, something much larger than just you or me or even (gasp) your over-charging cellular phone company.
This Super-Mystery compels you, as if by an unseen powerful force, to discover the greater "hidden meaning" behind the mysterious messages...
Could these bizarre texts actually contain the meaning to, as Douglas Adams describes, "Life, the Universe and Everything"?
This is precisely what happens to college student/statistics genius Richard "Rich" Nash (Derek Brown).
In Rich's obsessive quest to discover the meaning behind the weird texts, he will stop at nothing. Mr. Nash will push his roommate Christopher "Chris" Weathers (Josh Rocchi) and girlfriend Sarah Jenkins (Sadie Crow) to the very edge of hilarity and "civil" society itself.
Will Rich discover "The Secret"? Or will his beliefs manufacture a self-fulfilling prophecy?
You think I'd give away all the answers? Join us at our zany, apocalyptic comedy & find out for yourself!
For the comedy-mystery aficionados, I'll present a taste of the flesh-driven dialogue, just enough to whet your inner ravenous zombie's appetite:
"Zombie Texts from the Future" begins at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 29 through Saturday, Nov. 1 at the Monongalia Arts Center (MAC), 107 High St., located beside the Clarion Hotel Morgan in downtown Morgantown, West Virginia. Join/share the Facebook event to be sure you & your friends get all the updates.
Director Mara Monaghan is bringing her myriad skills & unique vision to this zombie-rific MACPlayers production. It's been a great experience working with Mara. I'm thrilled with the talented cast: Donnelle Bohnke, Derek Brown, Sadie Crow, Tracy Lynch, and Josh Rocchi.
Thanks to the director and cast, as well as everyone who auditioned and the talented people who have been providing input, feedback, helping with set build, painting, sound, lights, stage management and much more: Ashton EB Cutright (the multifaceted artist who created the zombie character above to help us promote the show), Roger Banks MACPlayers theatre coordinator, Richard Dumas, Mary Rath, Seret Cole, Sami Rose, Ro Brooks, Daniel Gibbons.
Special thanks to Swing Dance WVU, Morgantown Swing, including Amy Loomis, David Loomis, Cori Skidmore. Appreciation to friends for the support/inspiration: Donald Carl Fidler/Playwrights Group, George Lies/Morgantown Writers Group, Scott Emerson/Morgantown Poets, north-central West Virginia comedy community, including the comedians who perform weekly at 4th & Goal.
If you're wondering what this outrageous "B-movie" titled"Zombie Texts from the Future" is all about, think "Pi" meets "Rocky Horror Picture Show" (insofar as my hopes for audience-interaction) meets Mel Brooks/Gene Wilder "Young Frankenstein." Of course there are healthy doses of my own obsessions with the future, Dr. Ronald L. Mallett (who I heard speak at WVU) & reading his book, "Time Traveler," technology and society (you'll recognize some of my thoughts on tech/society, illusion/reality if you're read my dystopian "STARLING" series.) My hat's off to George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead," his many outstanding zombie films as excellent social commentary.
As the author, I can give you give you a sneak preview of "Zombie Texts from the Future"...
Imagine you get a random text message on your cell phone. But the message is from an unknown number and consists of only one word: "sushi" (or "ketchup," "pizza," "wine," take your pick...)
Soon after receiving these one-word messages, the food in question "mysteriously" appears, as if by magic.
At first, you think the messages are a prank from your obnoxious roommate or your significant other.
But gradually, as you run out of logical explanations, you begin to believe that something else might be going on, something much larger than just you or me or even (gasp) your over-charging cellular phone company.
This Super-Mystery compels you, as if by an unseen powerful force, to discover the greater "hidden meaning" behind the mysterious messages...
Could these bizarre texts actually contain the meaning to, as Douglas Adams describes, "Life, the Universe and Everything"?
This is precisely what happens to college student/statistics genius Richard "Rich" Nash (Derek Brown).
In Rich's obsessive quest to discover the meaning behind the weird texts, he will stop at nothing. Mr. Nash will push his roommate Christopher "Chris" Weathers (Josh Rocchi) and girlfriend Sarah Jenkins (Sadie Crow) to the very edge of hilarity and "civil" society itself.
Will Rich discover "The Secret"? Or will his beliefs manufacture a self-fulfilling prophecy?
You think I'd give away all the answers? Join us at our zany, apocalyptic comedy & find out for yourself!
For the comedy-mystery aficionados, I'll present a taste of the flesh-driven dialogue, just enough to whet your inner ravenous zombie's appetite:
RICH: Chris, you're not listening. How would anyone know on Sunday that you would be bringing me sushi precisely 72 hours later, on Wednesday? You never bring me food.
CHRIS: Hey! I brought you pizza on your birthday last year, remember that?
RICH: Pizza and sushi are totally different things! Totally! Different! Totally, totally, totally…
CHRIS: OK, OK, geez. Stop. You’re going into one of your moods.
RICH: Where'd you get sushi anyway?
CHRIS: Office party. We had extra. Thought you'd want some.
RICH: It's not funny.
CHRIS: What?
RICH: Using someone else's phone to send this weird text!
CHRIS: I don't know what you're talking about.
RICH: Liar!
CHRIS: Now, don't get all worked up.
RICH: Liar! Liar! LIAR!
CHRIS: Come on Rich. Calm down. Dude, we don't want the neighbors calling the landlord again.
RICH: You're the only person who could have sent it!
CHRIS: Why would I do that?
RICH: Oh, I "don't know": To ANTAGONIZE me!
CHRIS: If I wanted to screw with you, I'd reset your alarm clock. Then I'd let the air out of your bicycle tires. Wait… I did that, six months ago.
Are you laughing yet? Well get set because this show encourages audience participation, a la "Rocky Horror Picture Show" style (yes it's true, my entire insane life has boiled down into a burning desire to have "Zombie Texts from the Future" become the next Morgantown cult classic): This ghoulish show will be combined with cued audience participation-socialization and a cool dance demo by WVU Swing Dance.
And grave-dig this:
Audience members who dress up as zombies will receive a complimentary beverage. A special “Best Costume” contest for all costume styles (zombie, vampire, ghost, robot, character, etc.) will be held October 31, Halloween night.
The fast-paced comedy is written toward a teenage or adult audience, recommended for ages 13 and above with parental guidance.
Don't forget: Performances will be in Monongalia Arts Center’s Tanner Theatre at 107 High Street, Morgantown (next to the Historic Clarion Hotel Morgan). Admission is a measly ten bucks. Tickets may be purchased online at www.monartscenter.com/shop, via phone at (304) 292-3325, or at the MAC Lobby Desk.
And grave-dig this:
Audience members who dress up as zombies will receive a complimentary beverage. A special “Best Costume” contest for all costume styles (zombie, vampire, ghost, robot, character, etc.) will be held October 31, Halloween night.
The fast-paced comedy is written toward a teenage or adult audience, recommended for ages 13 and above with parental guidance.
Don't forget: Performances will be in Monongalia Arts Center’s Tanner Theatre at 107 High Street, Morgantown (next to the Historic Clarion Hotel Morgan). Admission is a measly ten bucks. Tickets may be purchased online at www.monartscenter.com/shop, via phone at (304) 292-3325, or at the MAC Lobby Desk.
THEODORE WEBB, co-founded Morgantown Poets. Teenagers battle constant surveillance in Webb’s “The STARLING Connection.” “Family Hour,” depicts cubicle imprisonment. A returning vet takes action in “Desperate Engine.” Free samples: http://www.amazon.com/Theodore-Webb/e/B009KLU5IW/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0 “Is Freedom on the Menu?” will be published in “Diner Stories” by Mountain State Press. Webb's latest poetry book, "Poems for Poets," is available through Passive Terrain Press. His zombie comedy-mystery ("zom-com") "Zombie Texts from the Future" will be performed at 8 p.m. Oct. 29-Nov. 1, 2014 at Monongalia Arts Center, Morgantown, West Virginia. Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/theodorewebbauthor; Twitter @theodoretedwebb
