New Millennium Theatre Company Brings Zombies Home for the Holidays.
Fun Family Christmas will NOT be ruined by some silly “apocalypse”.

On December 2, Christmas is coming and the zombies are getting fat this Holiday Season as New Millennium Theatre Company (NMTC) decks the halls with a salute to George Romero in Silent Night of the Living Dead,an original play by NMTC company members Sean Harklerode and Chad Wise. It’s the perfect holiday distraction for anyone that has stifled an uncomfortable laugh or tried to hide behind a water glass or slink under the table to avoid being criticized for their life choices while passing the mashed potatoes.

Barbara Cooper is home from college and she’s brought her new man-friend Ben to meet her family. And Mr. Cooper will be DAMNED if some zombie apocalypse nonsense is going to get in the way of Mrs. Cooper’s perfect Cooper Family Christmas—even if he finds himself with an insatiable craving for brains! It’s a race against the kitchen timer as the Zombies close in, threatening everyone’s Christmas cheer.  What will become of Barbara’s family?  Can Ben save Christmas??  Will the turkey be dry??? Grab the nearest blunt instrument, and gather under the mistletoe to find out on the Silent Night of the Living Dead!

For the past five years, NMTC has been producing its unique brand of Fa-la-la-la-la with the type of holiday fare that stands out like The David Bowie Christmas Special 1977 and Sinta Claus City. NMTC, also no stranger to horror parody, brings a combination that pleases its long time fans along with the holiday theatergoer looking for a little spike in their holiday nog. Writer Sean Harklerode (Plans 1-8 from Outer Space) explains  “This show started out with a simple premise:  What if Night of the Living Dead happened on Christmas Eve?  Many of us wind up sleep walking through the holidays.  So, what’s the difference between that and a bunch of zombies? Aside from the brain eating?” NMTC Artistic Director, co-writer and veteran director Chad Wise (Evil Dead The Musical!, Boomstick!, Sinta Claus City, Villains, ) adds “This show appealed to me because the idea of a family trying desperately to retain the veneer of a perfect traditional Christmas through enormous odds seemed like the kind of  shared human experience I could sink my teeth into. As if a drunken guest, an overbearing matriarch, and an inappropriate encounter between the man of the house and the next-door good-time girl weren’t enough, 2/3 of the Cooper children are now more interested in brains than the Roast Beast. Harklerode adds, “Plus, there’s a talking snowman and lots of guts and brains.  Wonderful, wonderful brains. “

Silent Night of the Living Deadwill run December 2 through December 18 with performances on Fridays at 10:00 PM, Saturdays at 11:00 PM, Sundays at 5:00 PM with special performances on December 29-30 at 8:00PM at Theater Wit (1229 W. Belmont Chicago IL). Tickets are $18 Fri-Sat, $15 on Sundays.412 Industry tickets are available for Sunday performances. There is a $2 discount with the donation of a non-perishable food item. A limited number of half price tickets are available through goldstar.com and Hottix. For more information or to purchase tickets call 773-975-8150 or visit www.nmtchicago.org.

OPENING OCTOBER 7, 2010

Billed as a “Musical Zom-com” (zombie
comedy), Musical of the Living Dead is an original musical parody of
classic zombie films and musical theatre.  Featuring music inspired by
everything from Gershwin to Green Day, Musical of the Living Dead
follows the lives of ten very different people trapped in a farmhouse
during the breakout of a zombie apocalypse. They are all brought
together seeking refuge from the brain-eating zombies outside and,
following classic zombie genre rules, we see who gets eaten, who comes
back to eat someone else and who lives to fight another day.

Musical of the Living
Dead features several sequences of carnage – each one more visceral than
the last. The cast will be bloody…the first few rows of the audience
will be bloody…and everyone will have a bloody good time – laughing and
being horrified all at the same time.

• Directed by Marc Lewallen and Brad Younts
• Produced by The Cowardly Scarecrow Theatre Company
• Presented at the Charnel House

Dates: October 7 – October 31, 2010

Thursday –Saturday with a special performance on Halloween

Time: All shows at 7:30 pm

Charnel House, 3421 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, IL 60647

Full details and information: http://musicalofthelivingdead.com/Musical_of_the_Living_Dead/Welcome.html