Zombies are one of the more popular monsters when it comes to Halloween, and Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts is bringing back one of its popular Wagon Wheel Jr. shows for their holiday show - “Zombie Night, The Musical.”
“The Wagon Wheel’s done this before a few years ago and I went and saw it and I thought it was amazing,” said Olliver Pettit, who plays Lum in the production of the show this year. “So I was super excited to hear it was coming back a second time. I’m super excited to be able to perform something I’ve seen.”
Show times are at 7 p.m. Oct. 25, with the Not-So-Haunted Open House at 6 p.m.; and 2 p.m. Oct. 26 and 27, with the Not-So-Haunted Open House at 1 p.m. The open house is free with the purchase of a $20 show ticket and includes a costume contest, games, trick-or-treating and more.
Adria Jordan, who also saw the previous production and loved it, plays Phoebe in the musical comedy.
“My character is one of the four students who wants to set up a Zombie Night party, which is like their senior party in an abandoned house,” she said.
Pettit said Lum is a ghost farmer who is the owner of the old, abandoned house. “I used to own the house a very, very long time ago, but then when I died I just haunt the property,” he said.
The plot of the show, Pettit said, is just teenagers getting scared in an old house. He said there wasn’t really an underlying message to the show either, “especially when you see the end. The end will be really fun, that’s all I’m going to say.”
Jordan said the show is a “spooky, funny comedy musical. But it’s for kids.”
There’s a lot of slapstick humor in the show, Pettit said. Even though there’s zombies and ghosts, he said they’re just kind of goofy.
Pettit said it won’t be too scary so kids can come watch it. Jordan said there’s just mainly ghosts and zombies in the show.
Wagon Wheel Director of Education and Community Engagement Kira Lace Hawkins is directing “Zombie Night, The Musical,” which they last did in 2016.
“It was a hit last time and we’re having fun putting it back on,” she said.
There are 31 kids in the cast. The last time they did it, she said the cast was a little smaller.
“I’m always the one to push and say, ‘Can we get some more kids in the cast?’ So we have a little bit bigger zombie chorus this time,” Lace Hawkins said.
It’s not too scary because Artistic Director Scott Michaels is really intentional about cutting the scariness with some goofy dancing for the zombies, she stated. “It’s pretty obvious that it’s all just a joke.”
There’s lots of singing and dancing, and a heightened sense of reality.
Before each show is the Not-So-Haunted Open House. Lace Hawkins said it started just as a fun pre-show activity and it’s really turned into a main event itself.
“Jen Dow has been amazing at adding new fun games each year. It really feels kind of like you’re entering into a little bit of a Halloween carnival,” she said. “So there’s lots of games to play. The kids all get candy, it kind of feels like trick-or-treating as well. There’s a costume contest and a few other contests like ‘Guess How Many Eyeballs Are In The Jar.’ So it just feels like a really fun Halloween celebration, and the kids just really enjoy dressing up and getting to enjoy a show afterwards.”
Dow, the Wagon Wheel director of artistic operations, said they try to improve the open house every year. There will be a face painter this year, which is new. She said in 2019 they really amped up the open house, which they’ve been doing since about 2014.
“We started it pretty soon after we started the Junior program, so it’s 12 years of the Junior program happening, so I would say 10 years is a good estimate,” she said.
Homeschooled, except for the two classes he takes at Tippecanoe Valley High School, Pettit, 17, has been doing Wagon Wheel Jr. for six years and Wagon Wheel overall for 10 years. “Zombie Night” is his 10th show at the Wagon Wheel, but only his sixth Wagon Wheel Jr. show.
A Warsaw Community High School student, Jordan, 16, has been doing Wagon Wheel Jr. for about five years, but couldn’t remember how long she’s been in Wagon Wheel’s professional shows. “Zombie Night” is her eighth Wagon Wheel Jr. show and 18th show overall.
“Everyone’s really including and it’s really like, this is just a fun process,” she said of what she likes about being a part of the Wagon Wheel experience.
“It’s really fun to watch the younger kids grow up,” Pettit said. “Because the more you’re in the shows, the more you see recurring kids who you get to watch grow up and you get to teach them how to grow up. Help shape their lives.”
As for what makes Halloween one of the best holidays of the year, Jordan said, “Being scared is fun.”
“It’s always fun to pretend to be someone else, especially if it’s scary. So it’s fun to scare other people,” Pettit said.