South’s winter play, a chilling adaptation of the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead, took center stage in the Drama Dance Room earlier this month with a blend of seasoned and novice theater members, John Cowlin, Winter Play Director, said.

Night of the Living Dead pioneered the idea of a zombie identifying as an undead, flesh-eating being. The cast brought the film to life in this year’s winter play on Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 8 at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., Cowlin said. He chose to direct a horror film-based play with the hopes of scaring a high school audience.

“It is easy to do a comedy and make [an audience] laugh,” Cowlin said. “It is hard to make [the audience] scared.”

Boasting newer and veteran theater members alike,  the winter play created community in the cast that freshman Megan Tan, who played the character Barbara, was thankful for. Being in a limited amount of extracurricular activities, the play was an opportunity for her to make more friends, she explained. Not only that, but Cowlin allowed for everyone to develop an individual character and purpose, designing a friendly and meaningful environment, Tan added.

“There is a lot of inclusion [in the winter play] and everyone has their own special thing,” Tan said. “Cowlin goes into an extreme level of detail so [that] everyone can feel like they have a role.”

For senior Wyn Blomberg, who portrayed the ‘first zombie’, the winter play was their first introduction to theater. They were excited to collaborate with incoming talent and see the collective journey of theater past their graduation, they said.

“It is cool to see how the other cast members are excited to work with the new [members],” Blomberg said. “It is nice to see [how the theater program will] continue after I graduate.”

As the premiere of “Night of the Living Dead” approached, Cowlin anticipated the audience’s reaction and hoped for a mix of fear, unease, and introspection.

“I hope [audience members] were scared. I hope they were grossed out, and I hope they were a little bit melancholy at the end,” Cowlin said. “[Night of the Living Dead] is an important movie. If people leave feeling a little bit run-over, that is closer to the tone [of the movie] than if they leave thinking about what a fun time they had.”