Two East students perform in the Coterie Theatre’s production of ‘Maul of the Dead’

Squeezed into the lobby, the audience of “Maul of the Dead” has been waiting for 30 minutes for the show to start. The doors are closed and the lights dim slightly. Yelling comes from somewhere. As people anxiously look around, their eyes land on two men dressed in navy blue bolting down the hallway of Crown Center into the theater’s lobby.

They frantically usher the audience into the theatre, JC Penney’s. Zombies of all types circle the glass windows of the lobby. People shrink back from the bloody ballerina. They run away from the praying nun with the torn dress. They hide behind strangers to get away from the young, limping baseball player, all wearing the same angry face covered with blood and dirt. This entrance into the theatre sets the mood of the play that sophomore Sam Rider and freshman Zoe Brian are in.

“Maul of the Dead” is set in the 70s in a JC Penney’s store. It’s based off of “Dawn of the Dead,” which the Coterie performed last year.

Zombies are taking over the mall and there are only six living people left: Wendy, a weather woman, John, her boyfriend, Frank and Louis, the two friends that ushered everyone into the theatre, and Donna, a sassy punk teenager.

Everyone else in the cast plays a zombie who is trying to kill the living. The zombies range  from 13 years old to 56 years old and anyone is welcome to join.

Brian joined the “Maul of the Dead” cast because of her love of acting. As a kid, she took acting classes and was in her first stage performance as a pick-a-little lady in Indian Hills Middle School’s production of “The Music Man.” She was in the Coterie’s “Dawn of the Dead” last year, and this year, her dad wrote the script.

Rider, on the other hand, joined the cast on a whim. His younger sister had seen “Dawn of the Dead” last year, and wanted to be in “Maul of the Dead” this year. Actors have to be 13 years old though, so his sister couldn’t participate, but Rider joined.

To be a zombie in the show, actors go to a class that teaches them how to be a zombie and doubles as rehearsal.

“We learned how to do makeup for the zombies, all the gore, and injuries.” Rider said. “We learned how to walk like a zombie-sort of zombie etiquette.”

This class was mostly taught by stage manager Jaclyn Larson in the Coterie theatre so the cast would get used to their surroundings.

“The best class was when we learned how to do the fast zombies,” Rider said. “There’s a gate in the show and we learned how to run and roll under it, then get back up quickly.”

For Rider, this was his favorite part of the show. Brian’s favorite part, on the other hand, was getting to kill her best friend, Charlie. Brian played Mitzy, an ex-perfume counter assistant.

“I really enjoy killing Charlie,” Brian said. “We have this blood packet and I squeeze it when I go in to bite her and it sprays up and the audience likes it.”

Every night that Rider and Brian perform, they get ready the same way, which takes around 50 minutes.

Rider pulls on tan bell bottoms and a Grateful Dead t-shirt. He has chosen to dress as a groupie of the band the Grateful Dead. Aviators and a red bandana finish the look. He prepares to put on his makeup, which must cover all of his skin. Meanwhile, Brian has on brown and orange paisley pants and a purple and orange striped shirt decorated with blue spirals. This is topped off with a smock.

Now that their costumes are on, it’s time for makeup. They put wounds on first, followed by a base which is the blue makeup that goes everywhere. Veins and other marks on the body are next and, finally, blood is splattered on. Looking back at them from the mirrors isn’t Brian and Rider, but  blue-grey faces with haunting red and black circles around their eyes and mouths and lots of blood and dirt.

“People get really into it, Brian said. “A guy plays a zombie who died being run over by a car, and he actually took the clothes and ran over them with his truck. We put blood, dirt, everything on it and slash them all up, it’s great fun.”

More than just the costumes and stunts, Rider and Brian love the people that are in the cast.

“The people are just great,” Brian said. “Some are doing it as another acting exercise; some are doing it because they love zombies.”

The cast started out a little awkward because no one knew each other, but by the third or fourth rehearsal, everyone was comfortable.

“Throughout the whole process everyone sees who everyone is and bonds,” Brian explained. “No one doesn’t like each other, we’re all like family.

Though the entire cast is close, Brian, Rider and another zombie, Erin, are particularly close.

“We see each other every night at the shows,” Brian said. “We formed a group we call the Zombie Breakfast Club.”

When the lights dim and the audience quiets, Rider, Brian, and the other zombies lose their friendly personalities and become the zombies they appear to be. They limp out from behind the perfume counter. They crawl under the metal gate. Pale skin glowing, the show begins.