Zombies on stage this week

Under the cloak of night, zombies with sunken faces wearing funeral attire trudge through tall grass. They enter a rural farmhouse. Seven young adults quiver inside. What happens next, one just has to wait and see.

This fall, the Vestavia Hills High School Theatre Department will deliver a classic horror performance with captivating modern flair. Theatre Director Alan Gardner will direct the multimedia production of Night of the Living Dead, showing on Oct. 10, 11 and 12 at Vestavia Hills High School. 

Gardner said audiences can expect ticket sellers, concession workers and stage crew to be dressed in bloody zombie attire for the performance, which will be a mixture of film and live action.

 “No one ever thinks to do something like this, and that’s what makes it so special,” Gardner said.

Night of the Living Dead, a 1968 black-and-white American horror film directed by George A. Romero, follows seven characters trapped in a Pennsylvania farmhouse that is taken over by zombies. 

Gardner said the idea came to him when he was reading a magazine article about a production filmed in an abandoned swimming pool. He started researching unique performances and, after watching Night of the Living Dead, decided it was the perfect production for his students.

 “I thought, ‘We can do this,’” Gardner said. “The more you can make a story accessible to a modern audience, the more meaningful it is to them.”

Gardner believes his students’ performance will keep audiences on the edge of their seats from start to finish. All the scenes that take place inside the farmhouse will be performed live on stage. However, every time a character exits the house, the stage will fade to black, and a movie screen will play prerecorded zombie scenes.

 “We found this quiet, beautiful, big farm in Chelsea,” Gardner said. “We spent two days filming out there. I told my students, ‘Dress like you are going to your own funeral.’”

Although the farm was a good fit for some of the exterior shots, it lacked a suitable farmhouse. Gardner stumbled upon a house in Homewood for sale surrounded by woods and built in the 1800s. After realizing he had a personal connection to the seller, he was able to film outside the house as well as take pictures of the interior.

 “The actual production opens with seven minutes of film,” Gardner said. “I’m also really going to play around with music and sound effects.”

In addition to the innovative horror film production, Gardner will be taking five students to a district competition in early November at Thompson High School, where the group will perform a one-act ghost story titled Early Frost. Gardner said he has been looking into creative stage illusions to stand out from the competition, and the students have been rehearsing all summer.

 “We have to make a ghost child who is age 11 float a foot and a half above an attic trunk,” Gardner said. “It’s difficult because you only have 45 minutes. But I’ve had some fun researching different illusions and levitations.”

Gardner said he has enjoyed spending the summer filming scenes and editing footage and letting his students be creative in their theatrical roles. He believes the district competition will be a good experience for the students but that they will benefit the most from the two-hour main stage production in October.

“It’s interesting, fun and different.” Gardner said. “I think the audience is really going to be excited.”