Behind the scenes of “Zombie Prom”

By Danna Bertel •

Spencer Carlisle, senior theater major, is starring in NSU’s “Zombie Prom” musical as Eddie Flagrante, a determined and opportunistic investigative reporter who is out to seek the truth, as long as it’s newsworthy. With another play to add to his repertoire, Carlisle is playing a character out of his comfort zone.

Nina Poulos, senior musical theatre major, and Spencer Carlise, senior musical theatre major, rehearse. COURTESY OF JAQUELINE MATOS.

“It’s a different character to what I’ve played before. Usually I’ve played characters that are comedic relief, and while he has his comedic moments, there’s a bit more to him than what’s originally seen,” Carlisle said. “[Our] director, Alex Alvarez, tends to cast us in roles that challenge us. He has us try different characters to play as, and it’s just a great experience.”

Carlisle and the rest of his cast- mates will present a rendition of the off-Broadway musical “Zombie Prom,” a genre mashup set in the ‘50s. The musical follows the love story between senior Toffe and class bad boy Jonny. Even after getting into a nuclear waste dump, nothing can stop Jonny from taking Toffee to the prom and graduating.

“I love that it’s got a little bit of horror, a little bit of comedy, and it’s got all those musical numbers,” said Alex Alvarez, associate professor and director of “Zombie Prom.”

The cast of “Zombie Prom” started rehearsing in January and won’t stop until the show starts. With the different elements of dancing, singing and acting, the rehearsal process for the musical has been long and challenging.

“The first two weeks were mu- sic rehearsals. They learned and reviewed the music. Then the second two weeks were cho- reography. They learned and practiced choreography. Now we’re doing what’s called a kind of a work-through of the show, which is stopping and starting,” Alvarez said. “The fact that it’s a musical is the most challenging aspect of it because there are so many elements to it.”

The cast is now focusing on rehearsing aspects that are lacking or need more work.

The cast of “Zombie Prom” rehearses a group number. COURTESY OF JAQUELINE MATOS.

Through the extensive rehearsing schedule, the cast finds ways to have fun.

Emily Bernard, chemistry major, shared how the cast started randomly dancing and singing to “Cotton-Eyed Joe” after a long hour of rehearsals. With moments like this, the cast has been able to grow and bond together.

“It became the whole cast just doing ‘Cotton-Eyed Joe’ on the stage with no music, we were all just singing. I thought this seems right, when everybody was drained and tired, they resort to doing the ‘Cotton-Eyed Joe’ dance,” Bernard said. “It’s been really cool to see everybody grow outside of their com- fort zone and be able to bond together over that fact that we’re all just doing something that we really like.”

Carlisle, Bernard and the rest of the cast will be performing “Zombie Prom” at the Black Box Theater on April 14 and 15 at 7:30 p.m. and April 16 at 2 p.m. “Our goal with this is to have people come and have a really good time and laugh,” Alvarez said.