“Evil Dead: The Musical,” is now playing at Stageworks Theatre in Tampa.
It’s based on the 1981 film that spawned a trilogy and a cult following for its over-the-top gore and campiness.
At the start of the musical, five college students head to an old, abandoned cabin in the woods for Spring Break. What could possibly go wrong?
Producing Artistic Director Karla Hartley is directing. She said the people who attend know what’s coming.
"There's nobody in the room that doesn't understand that these actors who are going to suddenly, spoiler alert, pull water guns full of blood out of a pocket and sort of shooting everybody and anybody, right? So, it's fun, and it's ridiculous, and I kind of feel like it's exactly what we all kind of need right now,” Hartley said.
Well, the students encounter other-worldly problems, find the Necronomicon (Book of The Dead) and try to fend off deadites, who are kind of like zombies, except they’re clever and fast.
Hartley is an adjunct professor at The University of Tampa. She said she’s happy to have some of her students in the cast.
"And to be able to bring UT kids over and give them, for many, their first professional show that they're able to do is super, super cool. But having them work alongside these seasoned performers who have been on stage for a long, long time doing their thing. So, it's a great mixture of youth and energy and age and menopause."
The UT students include: Ben Sutherland, a senior, cast as Ash. The Ensemble is made up of fellow UT students Elliana Gorecki, Alexandra Pugliese, Alexis Manfredy and Stephon Mikell, Jr.
“Evil Dead: The Musical” runs through Nov. 16.
Stageworks Theatre is the longest running professional theater company in Tampa. It’s been around for 43 years.
Its season offerings include “Latin History for Morons,” and “Touching the Void,” because Hartley’s always wanted to do a play about mountain climbing.
And despite the hard economic times nonprofits like hers are facing, she wants to stay true to serving people who need the arts in their lives.
“The real risk here is all is the education work that we do, is the work in the community. Paying artists to go into under-resourced and underserved communities and to make sure that these young people are having, for some, their very first artistic experience. And I think … we've lost the understanding that society is structured on several things and culture is one of them,” Hartley said.
Hartley said they’ve planned new programs that might not be considered “theater” to bring in a new audience and generate more revenue. They include drag queen bingo, a spooky trivia night, Disco night and a cabaret featuring UT students.
For more information, you can check the website for Stageworks Theatre in Tampa.
