Moorpark College Theater Arts welcomed students, members of the community, and zombie-lovers alike to survive one frightening night in the Performing Arts Center this past Thursday, Oct. 13.

Theater Arts kicked off the fall semester with the highly anticipated opening night of the flesh-eating theatrical production “Night of the Living Dead” on Thursday, the first of 8-shows spanning a total of 10 days.

Director Suzanne Fagan was elated by the cast and crews’ effort and ability to stage a successful show that went without any major errors.

“[Everyone on stage and behind the scenes] really collaborated together and respected each other’s jobs to create and work towards an amazing night of theatre,” said Fagan.

Although confident in the talent on stage, Fagan commented on how she is always nervous before a show.

“I am nervous for the actors, I want them to do well,” said Fagan. “For some this is their first time performing for an audience ever and this is a big theatre, 400-500 seats. I want them to be proud of all the work they did over the past few months.”

While some of the actors may be inexperienced to live theater, the audience on opening night seemed to have not gotten the memo including Adrina Deem, 19, Communication Studies major.

“Besides the intense makeup and how real and garish it was, it was the acting that was so intense,” said Deem.

In addition to Deem, many members of Thursday’s crowd were seemingly engulfed in fear by the “Night of the Living Dead” performance, judging from the ever constant screams and squeals in the room clearly not coming from the actors.

“I’ve never had so many audible gasps of horror and suspense in the shows I’ve directed before,” said Fagan. “Maybe audible laughter from audience members for a comedy, but this was like watching a horror film: the audience was covering up their faces!”

Although the play’s setting of a zombie apocalypse is blood-curdling as it is, one reason in particular for the audience’s spooked reactions comes from the fact that the actors of the many zombie characters often found their way off-stage, interacting with the vulnerable audience members.

“I really liked the connection between [the zombies and the audience members],” said Deem. “I honestly felt like they were going to come into the audience. I was thinking, ‘What is gonna happen? Is someone in the crowd gonna change into a zombie?’ It was like breaking that fourth wall of acting, and it was perfect!”

According to co-lead actor Harry Cho, 18, film and television media major, who portrays ‘Ben’ in “Night of the Living Dead,” the audience’s presence brought out the best in the performers.

“The difference between tonight and all the rehearsals was definitely the energy,” said Cho. “First day, you got an audience – they’re laughing, they’re crying, they’re freaking out. That gives you some kind of energy to do a lot of the stuff that you do on-stage. It makes the movements more purposeful.”

Proud of their work during the premiere weekend, the actors and Fagan still recognized ways to improve heading into the final weekend of shows.

“After every performance I look at what got a good reaction, what got a bad reaction, and I take note of that and think about how I am going to fix those,” said Cho. “What all of us need to do in general is focus on the details. Pin-point accuracy; which [details] we get to keep, which ones we need to change.”

As for Fagan, one key thing to improve on is the actors’ relationship with their surroundings.

“We can definitely learn how to control our movements more, we have to,” said Fagan. “If we don’t, we won’t have a set in 2 days because the actors were brutal with it tonight. We have to treat the set like a person, a living being that we have to be gentle with as well.”

Those who wish to attend “Night of the Living Dead” will have the opportunity to view the performance during the last four shows taking place at 8 p.m. on Oct. 20, 21, 22, and at 2 p.m. on Oct. 23.

“Bring your family, bring your friends, bring somebody that you kind of have a grudge with because you can scare them if you want to,” said Cho. “From what I heard from the audience, they really liked the performance. They liked the intensity, they liked everything about it.”

Tickets are available at the box office located inside the Performing Arts Center, or online at the link provided below. Prices range from $8 to $12, but $10 for Moorpark College students and staff.

http://www.moorparkcollege.edu/departments/academic/theatre-arts