Inside the auditorium, the audience erupts into enthusiastic applause as they watch the colorful lights and actors in bouncy costumes shuffle across the stage. The spring production of “Zombie Prom” has finally made it to the big stage after months of preparation, and has touched the hearts of many parents and friends who watched the radiant performance. 

The musical “Zombie Prom” was written by John Dempsey and Dana P. Rowe in 1993 and performed Off-Broadway in 1996. The musical has a very abstract plot. Set in the 1950s during the Cold War with the main character, Toffee, a popular straight A student, followed around by her posse, falling in love with the school bad boy, Jonny, who wears a leather jacket and doesn’t follow nuclear protocol. Toffee and Jonny begin to date, but are quickly ripped apart by Toffee’s parents and school principal. Jonny, heartbroken, makes the rash, suicidal decision to drive into a nuclear reactor, trying to escape the rejection. He comes back to school as a zombie, as a result from the radiation, with one goal—to take Toffee to prom. The fun atmosphere of the musical reached Madison as the cast and the crew worked tirelessly to bring “Zombie Prom” as the spring production this year.

“While the cast was reviewing harmonies and choreography, we were busy painting clothing,” Vie Moore (’29) said. “We pulled people out to measure costumes, we labeled hangers and we made sure everyone had everything they needed for show day.” 

The tech and costume crew have tuned all trinkets and equipment and have altered the costumes for the big day, making sure every one of the stars are comfortable in the extravagant outfits and clip-on mics. 

“Being the costume apprentice means I’m training to fully take over [the department],” Moore said. “Next year, Charlie Dyer (’26), the crew chief, will collaborate with me on designs, and when I’m a junior, I’ll get executive say and be looking for my apprentice.” 

Each department of the behind-the-scenes crew has a chief and apprentice. The chief makes executive decisions for the department and keeps all members on pace to finish their part of the production at an acceptable time. The apprentice provides support for other members of the crew who are struggling or who need instruction.

“We started with lots of dance rehearsals to learn choreography and vocal rehearsals to learn our harmonies,” Natalie Trillet (’29) said. “Then we started piecing everything together by running the show with blocking, vocals, and choreography on the stage. And finally during tech week we would run the show with our costumes, props, and the completed set.”

The cast works just as hard as the tech crew to get everything prepared for opening night, pushing their bodies to the limit with bold dance moves accompanied by vibrant singing. Their minds are also challenged with the hundreds of lines and song lyrics that need to be memorized in just a short amount of time. 

“We started rehearsing at the very beginning of February and we were here for about three hours every day up until April 27,” Laura Loy, the director of the production and head of the theatre department, said. “Then we did it! We did choreo and build and we did all of the things all in that short period of time.”

Technology and vivid sets aren’t enough to create a showstopping production without the most important element of show business: practice. The cast and the crew spent hours every day to perfect the performance, learning masses of choreography and blocking.

“The kids are a lot more self-sufficient and they want to succeed and they want to try new things and they want to do remarkable work,” Loy said. “Seeing their inspiration and being able to inspire them is really refreshing.”

The cast has a level of creativity that is hard to achieve in a high school production. Every detail is intricately thought out and was evidently made with large amounts of effort. Their hardworking attitude allowed the performance to flourish.

“I love seeing the kids have a connection to the story,” Loy said. “When I first introduced it a year ago, they were all literally like, ‘what is this, what are you talking about?’ By the end of it they were all crying that it was over.”

Over the course of the three months spent working on the project, the cast formed a strong connection to the show and unbreakable bonds with each other. “Zombie Prom” is a campy musical that has a very complicated storyline, but despite the complexity, students have trouble letting go of the memories made throughout the entire process of putting it together.

“MAD Drama is such an amazing community and I couldn’t be happier to help out,” Moore said.