November 4, 2009
Academy’s Chris Holcom Directs “Night of the Living Dead”
Category: Academy Headlines | Community News Headlines
Tags: Faculty, Fine Arts
Academy at the Lakes faculty member Chris Holcom is in the news again! Chris is the Director of Jobsite Theater’s latest production Night of the Living Dead, now playing at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center’s Shimberg Playhouse. Photos are available on FLICKR and JOBSITE THEATER. Ticket information is available at TBPAC.ORG. About Chris Holcom | Show Information | Show Teaser St. Petersburg Times correspondent, Marty Clear, wrote the following article about the play. In Print: Saturday, October 24, 2009 TAMPA | Marty Clear, St. Petersburg Times Way back when in ’67, George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead introduced a new kind of horror movie, more explicit and more intelligent than almost anything the genre had shown before. There were even some sociological subtexts to the film. One central character was a young black man who took charge in crisis, and gave orders to white people, some of whom actually deferred to him. In a film of that era, that was perhaps more shocking than the sight of zombies graphically eating human entrails. (Roger Ebert, in his original review of the film, repeatedly referred to that character as “the Negro.”) Jobsite Theater’s production of Night of the Living Dead (adapted for the stage by playwright Lori Allen Ohm) wisely recognizes that the things that shocked us then won’t shock us now. Though the stage version is faithful, it’s also lighthearted. The story is still compelling, and not without chilling moments. Basically, the plot involves a group of people — a family and two strangers — who take shelter in a vacant house after a nuclear mishap causes dead people to reawaken and seek out human flesh. Director Chris Holcom sets just the right tone. He has fun with the material without letting it descend into campiness. Some of the acting is really good, and some of it merely okay. But none of it’s bad. Even though her character cowers in silent wide-eyed shock through most of the play, Kari Goetz is fun to watch as Barbra, and Jason Vaughan Evans and Caroline Jett are strong in smaller roles. He’s the local sheriff and she’s the mother who’s holed up in the house. Katrina Stevenson’s costumes — mostly those of the legion of undead — are also very cool, and the makeup and other special effects (including blood and guts that are fairly believable but not disgusting) by Danny McCarthy are impeccable. On the way out of the theater, the opening-night audience was asked to keep the ending a secret. That apparently refers to a tacked-on segment that has nothing to do with the story. It’s a fun bit to watch, but for Jobsite to imagine that’s it’s a big surprise is odd. In fact, it’s far too predictable. Still, it’s a harmless capper to a slight but thoroughly enjoyable show. VIEW THE SHOW TEASER: SHOW INFORMATION: ABOUT CHRIS HOLCOM:
LIGHT THRILL, BIG FUN
Night of the Living Dead runs through Nov. 15 in the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center’s Shimberg Playhouse. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday. $24.50 plus service charge. (813) 229-7827 or TBPAC.ORG.
Chris Holcom has been a Jobsite Theater board member and Artistic Associate since 1999. Most recently, he served as an actor in Embedded (Chip Webb/Cove) and as director for Jobsite’s production of A Dream Play. Other notable appearances for Jobsite have been in Maxwell, Titus Andronicus, March of the Kitefliers, Mineola Twins and Delusion of Darkness. He has also appeared in Romeo & Juliet for American Stage’s Shakespeare in the Park and Look Back In Anger for Hat Trick Productions. In addition to acting and directing, Chris also has served as a special effects make-up artist for Jobsite’s productions of The History of the Devil, Dracula, Beauty Queen of Leenane, Playing With Fire: After Frankenstein and The Pillowman.
