Zombies and Runaways
Saturday was a huge event. so huge I have to back it up to Friday. On Friday the ZoCO team checked out our routes for the coming zombie crawl. It seemed like a really good set of paths through the rich part of the Orlando area, so I was excited to see what would happen when we take it over. After that I and the rest of the Runaways cast had our last rehearsal, and it went terribly. It was just flat out terrible. So after that, rather than returning immediately to the ZoCO team, I went to get food, which was the right move to make, and try to forget about the rehearsal. After some pizza with honey on it, I went back to ZoCO headquarters and hung out there.
Lots of us spent the night there so we'd be up and ready the next morning. Unfortunately, I was awoken in the middle of the night because of how unneccesarily cold it was, and I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep because of someone's rediculous amount of snoring. So I slept in the garage. I should have just slept outside.
The next morning we all got up, set up shop, and prepared for Zombie Crawl Orlando 2: The Conquering Swarm. I didn't have near a big of a part as I did last time when I was Assistant Producer, but I still was trying to make sure things went smoothly. This time I was a zombie lead (meaning I was one of the key zombies who looked after and lead the other zombies). And seeing how we had a crazy turnout of fifty zombies for this thing, that was important. We had three makeup artists, including the infamous Dr. Skull, and hoardes of eager participants. Despite how long it seemed to be taking and how long most of us were standing around in full costume, make-up, and blood, we were on schedule. Kind of. When we started gettting close to the last people, we hopped in the decked out zombie shuttles, or "Undeads", and headed on over to our parking garage starting point. Although, someone had the bright idea to drive all of us down our route, weaking our element of surprise. When we got there, we waited around a bit more, finally got everyone together, and started the crawl.
I led the group with our Zombie Lord, Josh Watford. We headed down the stairs with cameras in front of us, and we headed down Park Avenue. When we hit the corner of this major street, we split. One group went around back and later wove between hair salons and Christian book stores, the other, my group, went down the strip of outside cafes and fine stores. I was surprised how the reaction was, people either got out of the way once they saw us, or they followed us with their own cameras. Since this thing was mentioned a few times in The Orlando Weekly, I figured there was a few people who showed up prepared to take pictures. We eventually merged back together, and I split my group up to take the other side of the street, so we had the whole area, and then we bled into the park. We walked over the entire area, surprised college kids and upperclass types enjoying the nice serene garden. Then continued back into the busy street via a small alleyway, and finally, to the Winter Park City Hall where we united in zombie chorus and ended the crawl. It really was something else. If I had been an innocent bystander, well, I can't even imagine how crazy this must have been. Lots of sticky fun though.
As soon as I could I got a ride back to Watford's, took a shower to wash off the make-up, and Watford drove me straight to the Rep, where I was performing Runaways. The folks drove up that day to see me and bring me some stuff. I got more cardboard for the show, a new kazoo, and yeah.. I met with them briefly, then had to get ready for the show. As excited and nervous as we were for the show, I'm not sure everybody was ready. But our morale picked up when we heard the line waiting for tickets bend out and around the corner. We had a full house! We totally didn't expect that!
The show was alright. I didn't feel it was going that well. There was some problems with the music, and I don't think the audience was that responsive. But we still gave it our all, and later I found out it actually was a good show. There were a few imperfections here and there, but it still was a good show. I had people greet me afterwards to tell me how good it was, that I did do well, and that they liked the show. So I felt a lot better about it. Still, I don't think the parents cared for it.
Moving on..
Last night we had our second show, and it went much better. The house wasn't as full, and we weren't as excited/nervous, but it went a lot better. I think the music had very few, if any, problems and our show is finally where we want it to be. I personally felt a lot better about it. Afterward our director passed by me to tell me that I did the best I have done yet. After all the rehearsals and performances that was awesome to hear. And, it was a really good show for all of us. So yeah, I was happy about it.
We got one performance left, this Friday night, and I know it's going to be a good one!
Lots of us spent the night there so we'd be up and ready the next morning. Unfortunately, I was awoken in the middle of the night because of how unneccesarily cold it was, and I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep because of someone's rediculous amount of snoring. So I slept in the garage. I should have just slept outside.
The next morning we all got up, set up shop, and prepared for Zombie Crawl Orlando 2: The Conquering Swarm. I didn't have near a big of a part as I did last time when I was Assistant Producer, but I still was trying to make sure things went smoothly. This time I was a zombie lead (meaning I was one of the key zombies who looked after and lead the other zombies). And seeing how we had a crazy turnout of fifty zombies for this thing, that was important. We had three makeup artists, including the infamous Dr. Skull, and hoardes of eager participants. Despite how long it seemed to be taking and how long most of us were standing around in full costume, make-up, and blood, we were on schedule. Kind of. When we started gettting close to the last people, we hopped in the decked out zombie shuttles, or "Undeads", and headed on over to our parking garage starting point. Although, someone had the bright idea to drive all of us down our route, weaking our element of surprise. When we got there, we waited around a bit more, finally got everyone together, and started the crawl.
I led the group with our Zombie Lord, Josh Watford. We headed down the stairs with cameras in front of us, and we headed down Park Avenue. When we hit the corner of this major street, we split. One group went around back and later wove between hair salons and Christian book stores, the other, my group, went down the strip of outside cafes and fine stores. I was surprised how the reaction was, people either got out of the way once they saw us, or they followed us with their own cameras. Since this thing was mentioned a few times in The Orlando Weekly, I figured there was a few people who showed up prepared to take pictures. We eventually merged back together, and I split my group up to take the other side of the street, so we had the whole area, and then we bled into the park. We walked over the entire area, surprised college kids and upperclass types enjoying the nice serene garden. Then continued back into the busy street via a small alleyway, and finally, to the Winter Park City Hall where we united in zombie chorus and ended the crawl. It really was something else. If I had been an innocent bystander, well, I can't even imagine how crazy this must have been. Lots of sticky fun though.
As soon as I could I got a ride back to Watford's, took a shower to wash off the make-up, and Watford drove me straight to the Rep, where I was performing Runaways. The folks drove up that day to see me and bring me some stuff. I got more cardboard for the show, a new kazoo, and yeah.. I met with them briefly, then had to get ready for the show. As excited and nervous as we were for the show, I'm not sure everybody was ready. But our morale picked up when we heard the line waiting for tickets bend out and around the corner. We had a full house! We totally didn't expect that!
The show was alright. I didn't feel it was going that well. There was some problems with the music, and I don't think the audience was that responsive. But we still gave it our all, and later I found out it actually was a good show. There were a few imperfections here and there, but it still was a good show. I had people greet me afterwards to tell me how good it was, that I did do well, and that they liked the show. So I felt a lot better about it. Still, I don't think the parents cared for it.
Moving on..
Last night we had our second show, and it went much better. The house wasn't as full, and we weren't as excited/nervous, but it went a lot better. I think the music had very few, if any, problems and our show is finally where we want it to be. I personally felt a lot better about it. Afterward our director passed by me to tell me that I did the best I have done yet. After all the rehearsals and performances that was awesome to hear. And, it was a really good show for all of us. So yeah, I was happy about it.
We got one performance left, this Friday night, and I know it's going to be a good one!