wastebook2014

WASTEBOOK 201410TheTeen Zombie Sings, Tries to Get aDate to the Dance$10,000While most zombies want to eat yourbrains, there’s one that wants to steal yourheart. His story is told in a taxpayer-fundedstage production about the ups-and-downsof a lovesick zombie who can’t find a date inthe land of the living. 197National Endowment for the Arts(NEA) awarded $10,000 to the OregonChildren’s Theatre to produce “Zombie inLove,” 198 a musical about Mortimer, a teenagezombie “dying to find true love.” 199 He’s yourtypical zombie teenager who, “like[s] havingtoenails on his pizza, eating brains forlunch, having his intestines for a belt, andhanging out with his best friends, graveyardworms.” 200 After a series of unsuccessfuldates, Mortimer finally places a personal adin hopes of meeting his one true love, whohe hopes will show up to the school dance. 201NEA officials gave taxpayer assistanceto the show over other applicants, citingits accessibility for younger audiences –Mortimer “exemplifies anyone who has feltlike an outsider” 202 – and recommended it forall audiences aged four and up. 203The show is billed as family-friendly, butzombie enthusiasts will be glad to know “[t]here is some brain eating, but it’s gentle,”noted the theatre’s spokesperson. 204To accompany the show, the OregonChildren’s Theatre produced a “teacherresource guide” to help students learnthe show’s big lessons, such as, “Even theundead have feelings” and “The right specialsomeone will appreciate your unique, weird,and spooky qualities.” 205 Included inside is“vocabulary from the play,” with words suchas “putrid,” “maggots” and “fungus.” 206This is the fifth consecutive year theOregon Children’s Theatre received an NEAgrant, and according to its Managing Director,support for the theatre’s productions is“critical,” “signal[ing] that [the OregonChildren’s Theatre’s] work is recognizedand respected nationally.” 207 After seeingthe show at the Oregon Children’s Theatre,one mom’s assessment of the show noted,“It was like High School Musical, but withZombies.” 208While zombies are popular amongyoung adults, parents probably questionwhether a story about the “undead” eatingbrains is for children since these aren’t thetypical subjects of tales by Dr. Seuss or otherpopular children’s fiction over the years. TheTV series “The Walking Dead,” for example,“carries a rating of TV-MA, which defines thecontent as a program intended for viewingby people 17 and older.” 209 And the recentreanimation of the “Night of the Living ofDead” was rated R, in part, for “bloody horrorviolence.” 210 While “Zombie in Love” is morelighthearted than these with a more upbeatmessage, the underlying premise still maynot be the most age-appropriate story for achildren’s theater.13