In the Dead of Summer

Zombies at George Mason University...from The Connection Newspapers:

...AND IT WOULDN'T be a true zombie play unless some killing was involved. The killing scenes are what one actor said are some of the more difficult performances. When zombies kill each other, it has to be as believable as possible, said Jesse Nepivoda, who plays the character Billy, a lead role in the play. It’s all so ridiculous, he said, so acting out the scenes becomes difficult.
“The challenge is to make it all realistic and attach it to a real emotion,” said Nepivoda, a junior at GMU who has acted in about 10 plays at the university. “It’s such an absurd situation.”
What makes it hard for Gabriel is that there aren’t specific guidelines to follow for how zombies look and act. Every movie or book she has seen plays on a variation of the so-called traditional zombie. The plus side to that, she said, is that it leaves a lot up to the imagination.
“That’s what makes it hard, that there is such a gray area,” said Gabriel. “But it makes it fun.”
The laughing phases have passed, and the actors and Gabriel are rehearsing with a straight face now. At first, Logan said everyone was laughing because it’s a funny play. The humor came through in Gabriel’s writing because of her other inspiration: the loss of loved ones she experienced before she wrote the story. Writing the play and keeping it light was the best way to deal with her personal grief, she said.
“It’s not just a bunch of cheap laughs at zombies,” said Gabriel. “They’re very real characters. In order to overcome some tension, those laughs are needed.”

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The George Mason University Players present performances of “In the Dead of Summer” performances on Thursday, Nov. 16, at 8 p.m.; Friday, Nov. 17, at 8 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 18, at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 19, at 2 p.m. All performances are in the Black Box Theater, in the Performing Arts building at George Mason University. The building is located just behind the Center for the Arts. For more, visit www.gmu.edu/departments/theatre.