Auburn’s cast from the past is at it again.
The Summer Alumni Theater Company presents a fun-filled spoof lampooning 1950s sci-fi in “Zombies From The Beyond,” James Valcq’s musical comedy celebration of American ideals and foibles in the Eisenhower era.
The final three performances are 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Theatre at Auburn Mountainview, 28900 124th Ave. SE.
Tickets are $10. Proceeds benefit the high school drama students scholarship fund.
The SATC is comprised of actors, actresses and artists who graduated from Auburn-area high schools. The diverse cast, under director Paul Fouhy, assembles each summer to perform a benefit show.
“And raising money for students is what it’s all about,” Fouhy emphasized.
A child of the “Fabulous ’50s,” Fouhy decided to produce a genuinely satiric musical comedy, which closely follows the structural form of grade-B space paranoia films that were popular during the era.
“Zombies From The Beyond” is SATC’s second consecutive Valcq production. Fouhy’s camp revived the musical theatre composer’s “The Spitfire Grill” last summer to good reviews.
Fouhy – Auburn Mountainview High School’s arts, literature and drama instructor – decided to pass Valcq’s way again in “Zombies From the Beyond,” which was the composer’s first Off-Broadway production. The crazy, enchanting satire caught Fouhy’s imagination as a boy. Fouhy wanted to bring it to life on the local stage.
“It’s a charm of the ’50s in a sense,” Fouhy said of his selection. “Looking back, even though there was turmoil (in the decade), it was a much more light spirited era.”
In “Zombies From The Beyond,” a small group of scientists and townspeople have to save Milwaukee from a pack of singing, dancing zombies from outer space.
Songs, dances and laughs abound in the unlikeliest of settings as the Cold War and space race paranoia threaten the good folks at the fictional Milwaukee Space Center in 1955, where the staff is all abuzz at the arrival of rocket scientist Trenton Corbett. The budding romance of Trenton and Mary — the daughter of Space Center commander Major Malone — is jeopardized when a flying saucer lands in Milwaukee. The craft is piloted by Zombina, a buxom alien aviatrix bent on procuring he-specimens to re-populate her planet.
“It’s fun and ridiculous,” said Brynne Geiszler, who plays Zombina. “She’s fun, an absolutely over the top diva.”
Geiszler welcomes the chance to work again with Fouhy, her instructor at Auburn High.
“I just love working with Mr. Fouhy … and I like helping students get scholarships,” said Geiszler, a 2003 Auburn High and Cornish College of the Arts graduate who has performed regularly in musicals at the Tacoma Musical Playhouse and elsewhere.
“It’s really nice to work with people who just want to put on a show,” she added. “It’s really nice to be here in a relaxing environment with friends who just want to create something fun.”
High-octane satire
The high-energy musical comedy keeps the audience in seventh satire heaven.
Can Mary uphold her lady-like demeanor while using her facile intelligence to save Milwaukee from a Red Menace and a flying saucer invasion? Can plucky delivery boy Billy ever get secretary Charlene to notice his tap-dancing charms? Can the stalwart men of Milwaukee survive brainwashing by a musical menace from another world who gives new meaning to “stratospheric” soprano?
“The hardest part about Trenton is that he is a professor. … He’s really smart and comes into this Army base, which is completely out of his knowhow,” said Jeffrey Rowden, who plays the part of the rocket scientist. “He’s a specialist in the cosmos who is trying to fit in.”
Rowden, an Auburn High graduate, has taken time off this summer to do the musical. He plans to return to Shoreline Community College to pursue a degree in digital audio engineering.
Like Rowden, David Allen Ellis answered Fouhy’s call.
Ellis, a 1985 Auburn High grad who studied at New York’s National Shakespeare Conservatory for several years, returned home to complete his masters in education at PLU.
Despite a busy schedule, Ellis wanted to do the musical and help raise funds for theater students.
“Funding is such a struggle for education,” said Ellis, who plays space center aid Rick Jones. “It is a fun thing, and we forget sometimes to have fun.
“The main purpose of theater is to educate and entertain. Entertainment takes the focus but sometimes it should because part of the education is learning how to let go and laugh, relax and have fun, and not take everything so seriously.”
Taking its cue from pulp movies popular at the time, “Zombies From The Beyond,” brings the 1950s nostalgically and hilariously to life with a tuneful, toe-tapping score.
For Fouhy, “Zombies” is a production beast, perhaps the most difficult of SATC’s four summer shows. But he likes what he sees.
“This is the most challenging set we’ve done because we have multiple sets and we have no wing space,” Fouhy admitted. “It’s been a real challenge just to figure how to do it minimally and still make it amusing and fun.”
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Showtime
• Production: “Zombies From The Beyond,” presented by the Summer Alumni Theater Company.
• Performances: 7:30 p.m., Aug. 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20
• Venue: Theatre at Auburn Mountainview, 28900 124th Ave. SE
• Admission: $10 per ticket. Proceeds to benefit the high school drama students scholarship fund.
• Cast: Madeline Slettedahl (Charlie Omanski); Jeffrey Rowden (Trenton Corbett); David Allen Ellis (Rick Jones); Brynne Geiszler (Zombina); Lauren Slettedahl (Mary Malone); John Tague (Billy Krutzik); Dave Cox (Major Malone); Rachel Everson, Savanna Taylor, Tony Silivay, Jake Cossio, Tabitha Lovell (Zombettes).
• Support: Musicians (Natalie Vermilion, keyboards; Marigaie Slettedahl, piano; Taylor Kartic, drums; Aaron Speildenner, bass). Stage manager (Molly Whittaker). Choreography (L. Slettedahl). Musical director (M. Slettedahl).
