Theatrefolk Podcast: Middle School Play Mania: Multiple Plays with Multiple Classes

Episode 121: Middle School Play Mania: multiple plays with multiple classes
Middle School Teacher Jessica Stafford isn’t just doing one play. She’s doing a play with multiple classes. And she’s not doing the same play, each class gets their own play. How do you produce multiple plays with multiple classes and not go crazy? Listen in and learn!

Show Notes

• Hamlet Zombie Killer of Denmark
• Hairball
• Oddball
• School Daze
• The Absolutely Insidious and Utterly Terrifying Truth about Cat Hair

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Episode Transcript

Welcome to TFP – The Theatrefolk Podcast – the place to be for Drama teachers, Drama students, and theatre educators everywhere.

I’m Lindsay Price, resident playwright for Theatrefolk.

Hello, I hope you’re well. Thanks for listening.

Welcome to Episode 121 – one two one! You can find any links for this episode at the show notes at – you guessed it – theatrefolk.com/episode121.

So, today, we are talking Middle School Play Mania, specifically the type of mania that would make a middle school teacher put on not just one play, not two plays, not three plays. How about more than that? How about five plays in a year?

We’re going to be talking to middle school teacher, Jessica Stafford, about what she has to say about putting on multiple plays in a year with her classes – so, you know, two grade six classes put on a play, and her grade sevens, and her grade eights – and what these multiple productions do for her, how she has to organize, what do they do for her students, and even how she assesses them.

So, let’s get to it.

Linsday: All right. I am here with middle school teacher, Jessica Stafford.

Hello Jessica!

Jessica: Hi Lindsay! How are you?

Lindsay: I am awesome. How about you?

Jessica: Doing well. It’s the Thanksgiving break.

Lindsay: Oh, yes! And your kids just literally walked out the door, didn’t they?

Jessica: Four minutes ago.

Lindsay: And now, you’re doing a podcast.

Jessica: Yes!

Lindsay: Thank you so much!

Jessica: Any time.

Lindsay: So, the reason that I wanted to talk to Jessica is that she’s not doing just one of our shows, she’s not doing two of ours shows, she’s not doing three of our shows. How many shows are you doing right now? Or have you done with your classes in total?

Jessica: With you guys this year? Let’s see – one, two, three, and then a fourth one coming up in March.

Lindsay: So, what you’re doing is you are doing a play with which grades? All of them, right? That you’re connected with?

Jessica: No, sorry, five. We’ve done five, and I may be doing six.

Yeah, what I have, I have fifth through eighth grade, and my fifth graders, I do something different with them because they’re only nine weeks and it’s just too difficult to try and get them – that’s really like herding cats in a classroom.

And so, I have two six grade classes, and what I did this year was we used your show School Daze and I casted in both classes. So, one class performed one night and then the other class performed it the next night, and that was a wonderful experience because the kids got to see how another group did it. One class had 31 kids but only 3 boys; and the other one had 27 kids and 8 or 9 boys. So, the casting was very different. And then, one of the nights, we missed three kids and so I was able to just pull kids from their class and put them up on-stage. So, that was a big help.

The other ones are seventh grade which are doing Hairball, and eighth grade which is doing Hamlet, Zombie Killer of Denmark.

Lindsay: And this is all in one semester, right?

Jessica: Correct.

Lindsay: So, how crazy are you?

Jessica: Many days, I wonder that myself. But, you know, with the kids, it’s so easy because the scripts are so accessible and so relevant and the kids really grasp the idea – I mean, except for the Shakespeare thing, the Hamlet thing, they’re still fighting me and we’re in Week 12 or 13, but they’re eighth grades so they’re going to fight some things.

Lindsay: That’s right. Better that they fight you on Shakespeare than on something else.

Jessica: I’m okay with it.

Lindsay: So, let’s talk about this, though. Because we have so many middle school teachers out there and I think that, when they hear the notion of doing one play maybe with their eighth grade that that makes them crazy. But the thought of doing a different play with all the grades, minus the fifth – two sixths, a seventh, and an eighth – essentially all at the same time, I think that that’s something that boggles their mind. So, let’s completely break it down. Why was it important to you to put on a play with these grades?

Jessica: Well, we’re really, really fortunate here in Owensboro that I am a full-time theatre teacher. You know, I have two fifth grade classes, two sixth, and the sixth grade classes are year-round, the seventh grade classes are year-round, and so is the eighth. Plus, we also have a show that we take to competition which we’re doing Oddball – another one of yours – and we rehearse that outside of class.

I think it’s really important that every kid gets on-stage. I think it’s really important that every kid has an opportunity to have lines at least once in the year. They learn how to run our lights, run our sound. They are part of “how are we going to costume this?” They are part of “are we going to add set or are we going to make it about the characters and not worry about the background?” You know, these kids have really learned to communicate with each other and to trust each other and they need an end result. They need to know, from the beginning, this is what we’re working towards so that it doesn’t feel like it’s just a fluff class.

Lindsay: Right, that there’s actually so much more that you’re teaching them in that way, too. Like, if they’re not just actors, if they have to actually put in effort towards costuming, for example, they’re learning a different facet of this whole play production process.

Jessica: Yes, and it’s really great because we don’t have any storage; I don’t have a closet so everything is kind of under our stage extension. So, I send kinds under the stage and we pull out costumes and sometimes we have to modify things or they come back with stuff they found at Goodwill or they send me to Goodwill to go find stuff and they come up with new uses for things all the time and things I would never think of because their brains have been allowed to work differently which is great.

Lindsay: So, let’s go through the three plays. In School Daze, did the two classes, when they were thinking about those external costuming sets and all that, were they very different? Were they similar? Did they decide, “We want costumes”? Were they being minimal? What was their thought process?

Jessica: We did minimal because I’m in two different classrooms at the other campus so we move desks and we move tables and we move chairs and so we don’t have a place – we don’t have a stage that we can use and I don’t even have my 18×18 cubes that we use at the north campus. So, they’re standing on chairs. They’re standing on a desk. They’re standing on… Anything we can get them to stand on, I put them on because that’s our only way to get our levels.

So, what we did is we focused on our shirts had to be solid in color or they could be striped as long as they didn’t have any graphics, and then we did plain jeans and, people who maybe had a quirkier character, I maybe allowed them to have a solid shirt with some funky pants. And then, for the locker scene, all we did was add actual locks in their hands. Had we been here at north campus and been able to rehearse more often, I think they would have liked to have added, you know, some sort of actual locker look to the stage and added more of a school look to it, but we just didn’t have the place to do it or to store it during our class time.

Lindsay: But that’s something they can learn, too, right?

Jessica: Yes.

Lindsay: And their creativity is actually being exercised and that muscle is being used. “Okay. We don’t have a set. Okay. We don’t have storage. Okay. We don’t have this – what do we do?” What a great thing for them to thinking that thought process.

Jessica: Yes, and now they’re thinking ahead already. Well, when we get to seventh grade, can we work on this? Can we try this? And I just tell them, “Yeah, we can do whatever you want to do. You’ve just got to let me know and, as long as it works with our script, I’m all about it.”

Lindsay: Do you see changes in them just as human beings through this process?

Jessica: I do. I think it’s the coolest thing. I had a kid in fifth grade four years ago that, when he spoke, I literally could not hear this boy talking to me and standing right next to him. And so, I had him fifth grade, sixth, and seventh. By last year, he was one of my loudest kids on-stage. His confidence had just blossomed. I think he’s chosen to take engineering which is why he’s not in here this year. The confidence that grows in these kids from being on-stage, from finding what they are really good at, they suddenly become the expert that we need and they feel useful and they feel like they have their little spot in our world and the friendships bloom and their smiles are there and their parents tell me how much happier their kid is because they feel like they belong somewhere and I love watching it. I love watching these kids laugh and anyone who tells me, you know, “Middle school kids are the most miserable children,” you know, you’ve just got to get to know them. You’ve got to find what works for them and you’ll have some of the happiest kids sitting in front of you.

Lindsay: That’s really awesome. I love that.

So, that was the minimal with your grade sixes.

Jessica: Yes.

Lindsay: Now, your grade eights are doing a Hamlet, Zombie Killer of Denmark which has zombie make-up, it has some Shakespeare costumes. How did your eighth grades – aside from fighting on the Shakespeare – how did they handle costuming and setting the show?

Jessica: You know, we’re actually working on that this week over break. We’d gotten some of the costuming so, fortunately, we’re doing this December 8th and I was able to hit the stores and get some of the costumes on clearance after Halloween which was really nice.

They’re really excited about the zombie make-up even though I’m not letting them go complete gore because it’s kind of gross to me. But they want to put some faux stone walls like they’re in a castle; we are planning to take family pictures and then cross out people as they die; we’re going to have the new king paste his face on top of the old king; and we’ve taken Hamlet and he’s going to full goth so we’re going from this happy-go-lucky kid to everything he’s wearing is black and he looks very depressed.

We were going to go with, like, the 80s preppy look for Claudius but we decided we would go with the traditional king look, but he keeps changing his hats because he can’t decide what works for him. We’re just kind of taking it every which way we can. We’re not going to use any kind of grape juice. My kid wants grape soda. That’s what the queen wants to die from and so that’s what I’m going to give her. So, she’s going to die from grape soda and that’s our thing. They’re really taking it off. They’re running with it. They’re coming in. They’re going to work on stuff. I have all kinds of stuff. They’re going to make their own curtain rod and I’m not even sure what else they have up their sleeve but I’m sure I’ll be busy this week.

Lindsay: It sounds like –with this group in particular – that they’ve got a lot of ideas. They’re throwing a lot of things at you. Do you have an established discussion process with these students about, if someone puts forth an idea and you’re like, “No, we can’t do full gore. I appreciate that but we can’t do it,” what’s the give and take with the students in terms of their ideas making it on-stage and you being the adult and the teacher trying to facilitate that?

Jessica: What I do is we talk about it and I say, “Okay, guys. Where do you want to start?” So, they’ll read through it first and we start going through it. And then, about halfway through our rehearsal time, about right before the show is coming on, about halfway before, I sit down and I say, “Okay, let’s re-evaluate this. What do you want to add?” and, once they’ve kind of established who their character really is, then we have this huge list that goes up, and then we talk about what is necessary, and that’s where we start circling the things that are necessary and we cross off the things that, if we don’t have then we’re okay, and that kind of gives us a focus and really allows us to work on the things that are going to enhance the play and not take away from what we’re doing. I feel very strongly about that, that sets are great and they’re beautiful, but that’s one of the things I’ve loved about using Theatrefolk is that I don’t need all of those things to make an incredible play because the kids are what shines. So, for us to actually reach this point where we’re talking about adding a more elaborate set for us, it’s kind of a big deal, you know? And it’s kind of scary for me because, you know, I don’t have a background in this. I have a background in choral music and so, year four, I’m sitting here saying, “Okay, let’s try this,” and I’m secretly going, “Oh, god, what now?”

Lindsay: Well, you’re in a boat that a lot of teachers are in. So, what are you doing? Like, are you looking online? Are you reading stuff? Are you just using your own instinct? What are you doing when you don’t have a set background? How do you approach it?

Jessica: I use Pinterest.

Lindsay: Yeah!

Jessica: I love Pinterest; I talk to Carolyn Greer at the high school; I ask parents, “Who knows how to put this together?” I will listen to your podcast for things; I did that in the car this weekend; and I read as much as I possibly can in the little bit of time that I have. And I’ve enjoyed, actually, recently, what I’ve really enjoyed is going to different shows and even watching movies. I don’t look at shows and movies the way that I used to. Now, I look and I think, “Wow! I like that costume. How can I do that? Wow! I like that set piece. I wonder how they did that.” And so, it’s always work. But it’s been neat because, typically, if you stay after and you go ask people who are working the show, “Hey! I want to know how you do this,” they’ve been known to take me backstage and show me how it’s completed.

Lindsay: Well, they want to; they’re really proud of it. You know, I agree. Like, more often than not, it’s those guys and girls who built those things; they don’t get to talk about it. If you just go, “Hey! I want to know how you built that. I was really impressed with that.” I agree, I bet – nine times out of ten – they’re going to say, “Let me show you!”

Jessica: Yeah, and it’s been really cool because I’ve seen some stuff that nobody else usually asks about and I’m like, “That’s amazing!”

Lindsay: I think it’s really important. It’s the education. It’s your on-feed education is what you’re basically giving yourself, right? It’s like, any opportunity you have, go see a movie and look at it – constructing the pieces and the costumes and just sort of figuring out things in your mind.

Jessica: Yes, and I have big aspirations. Like, I’ll sit there and I’ll watch The Hobbit and think, “I want that!”

Lindsay: Why not?

Jessica: I’m a little over-the-top in my brain. But, typically, it doesn’t come out quite that big. But, you know, in my head, I’m thinking, “Wow! This!” And then, in reality, I’m thinking, “How are we going to get all the way up there? I’m not climbing that ladder.”

Lindsay: So, I think the one thing that’s really important here is that, if you don’t know how to do it, you better ask somebody, you better read about it, you better take it upon yourself to figure out a way. Maybe you’re not going to figure out the way that someone with a master’s in set design is going to do it but who cares? You’re going to figure out a way. And, secondly, “necessary” – I think that was a word you used which I think is really important when you are letting your students in the rehearsal process have a part in some of the aspects. That word “necessary” is one that needs to come up time and time again because, when you are using the word necessary, you can cut off someone who says, “Well, I want a moon to come flying across the stage there!” and it’s like, “Well, really, is that necessary to the storytelling?” It might be cool, but…

Jessica: Right. You know, the kids, if they come on and they say, “Hey, I really want to use this prop,” or, “I really want to use this,” then my answer to them is, “Okay, bring it in and let’s see how it looks in the middle of the scene. If it works, then it’s there. If it doesn’t work, then it goes,” and they respect that because I at least give them the opportunity. They feel heard.

Lindsay: And it must be a consistency thing, too. Like, if you’re constantly saying, “You can do this, but one of two things is going to happen…” if that’s consistent then that’s where your respect is going to get to come in.

Jessica: Right.

Lindsay: So, let’s talk about your organization. How do you keep? Because most people have trouble just organizing one play. so, if you’re working on a number of plays at the same time, how do you, as a drama teacher, stay organized? Or do you?

Jessica: I don’t know because I’m the least organized person I know. I make a lot of lists and I love Paper Mate pens – the ones that are like the felt tip pens – and I use them in different colors and so I make lists in different colors for each show so that I can keep track of what I’ve done and what needs to be done. And then, if it can be used in all the shows, that’s another color. It seems really time-consuming but I am so ADHD. I’m the person that’s yelling, “Squirrel!” across the room. You know, it’s necessary for me to have those lists.

Now, granted I lose them often, but I just keep recreating them. Usually, the kids keep me on track because they know that I’m like that and they’ll send me emails. “Hey Stafford, have you done this?” “Hey Stafford, what about this?” or they will give me a list and say, “We need this, this, and this,” and I’ll put in a PO for it. We try and do things in class or we’ll do things on weekends or we’ll do things after school and it just kind of keeps moving. You know, it helps a lot when you don’t have a lot of set pieces, when you’re just using five boxes, and we put the orchestra shelves up as our background – that’s typically what we do. Sometimes, we cover them with the big colored butcher paper just to have a solid, something that’s prettier than just the shelves. And I think really not having a lot of props and not having a lot of set pieces really helps in keeping it as minimal as possible and helps me stay a little more focused.

Lindsay: I think that’s such a really great tip. If you’re going to be doing multiple shows, you’re going to drive yourself crazy if you have multiple sets, multiple costumes, multiple prop pieces.

Jessica: Especially when you don’t have storage and a place to put it.

Lindsay: And, in the classroom, it’s got to be kid-focused, right?

Jessica: Correct.

Lindsay: What you’re doing has to be centered on the growth of your students. So, on that note, how do you assess them? How do you assess them? Because these are all class projects, correct?

Jessica: Correct.

Lindsay: So, how do you assess them?

Jessica: You know, are they off-script is one of our big grades. You’ve got to be off-script. So, if you’re off-script, there’s your 100. Yay, you! I’m so glad you’re off-script. That’s a big deal. But, typically, we rotate the kids watching each scene and the kids critique. “I really thought you did this well. Maybe you should try this,” or, “I don’t understand you when you’re saying this.” I’ll give feedback but, really, the kids are great at giving feedback. They are appropriate in giving feedback and we worked really hard on that.

Lindsay: Okay. So, that’s a big one. How do you get your students? How do you practice getting students to give appropriate feedback? Because that’s one thing that, when I talk to a lot of teachers, that they have the most difficulty with – that students are being kind to their fellow students but being insipid – like, having that insightfulness. How do you do it?

Jessica: Well, I think a lot of it – because I’ve started with them from the beginning – they hear that. Well, sixth grade, typically, for their first nine weeks, they end up with a monologue or a scene and then I have a rubric and we’ll follow that rubric and it’s typically one that is from EDTA that you would have for your IE. So, all the vocabulary is there. When I ask them to give feedback, they have to give something positive. “I like how you used your levels. I like how you moved from stage left to stage right.” So, I try and make sure they’re using all those terms that they need to know so that they’re constantly paying attention. Their brains are constantly moving. And then, if they’re going to give a critique, they can’t just say, “Well, I didn’t like how you did that,” because that’s just, “Okay.” You know, there’s no difference in saying, “Well, I don’t like that person,” but not giving me a reason why. So, they have to say, would you consider trying crossing stage right to stage left as you’re saying the line about zombies. You know, the student then says, “Okay, sure. I can give that a shot,” and then we have them do it. And so, that way, they see it happen, they can see if it works, and they may go, “Oh, that looks really good!” or “Oh, that’s not so great.” I think just me monitoring that and reminding them, “This is how we’re going to approach it, this is how you need to say it,” because, when they get to the high school, they do the same exact thing there, and they need to know how to do that. So, when they go see shows, they can come to me and say, “I really liked how they did this, this, and this. I wish they had blocked this scene differently and used a level here.” That’s the communication that’s now happening.

Lindsay: Wow. I think that’s fantastic – to have a middle school student being able to articulate that. Like, how wonderful!

Jessica: It was amazing to me because, when I took this, you know, I thought, “I don’t know what middle school can do in theatre. I know what they can do in choir,” but I didn’t know because I hadn’t seen what middle school could do in theatre. So, when I got these kids and once you kind of find what works for yourself and then what works for those kids, man, they surprise you beyond belief. They’re amazing.

Lindsay: Yeah, I just think that’s great. Well, it’s rewarding – hopefully, it’s rewarding on all levels because not only are you just seeing these students grow as human beings but then you’re also seeing them grow as actors and then you’ve got stuff that you can show your administration. Like, “Look, here’s the skills that they are learning. Here’s the rubric that they’re following.” It hits on all points.

Jessica: Yes, and it’s really helped too when we have the new national standards out, too. So, we’re able to look at those standards and say, “Okay, how are we going to hit these standards?” and it allows other teachers who teach academic subjects come in and go, “Wow! You’re doing this, this, and this?” “Yup! We hit all of these things in our classroom.”

Lindsay: Well, drama hits all those standards anyway. It’s like now you’re just being officially recognized for the amazing things that happen in the drama classroom.

Jessica: It’s pretty cool.

Lindsay: Okay. So, last thing, just before we started, you told me that you are planning to take on another one of our scripts and I’m not going to say it right – Cat Hair! Cat Hair for all of you out there. I’ll put the link in the show notes with the full title, but the short title is Cat Hair.

Jessica: Yes, the Absolutely Very Long Title Cat Hair.

Lindsay: Cat Hair. But Cat Hair has the distinction of you can put a lot of people on-stage because cat hairs are a multiple of characters, and you are hoping to put over a hundred students, middle school students, on-stage with this one-act.

Jessica: Yes! I’m very excited, too! The kids kind of looked at me funny. They asked me and they said, “Seriously? We’re going to do a play about cat hair?” and I went, “Yeah, ain’t that awesome?” and they went, “This is odd even for you,” and I went, “Yeah, it’s great.”

So, I have a cat. I love cats and cat hair goes everywhere you go and it’s one of those plays that was one of the first ones I read on your site and I thought, “Man, this is crazy! I love it!” But I was not in a place where I was ready to do something like that or take it on.

We have a fine arts festival every year where all of our arts in the school system are featured. And so, we have a drama night, dance night, orchestra night, choir night, band night, and then we also have visual art which is in the lobby of our RiverPark Center all week long. So, we have to showcase our kids and I have 120-plus kids and it’s really tough to find something for every single kid to be seen and heard on-stage. And so, all of a sudden, I thought about this show, and decided that’s what I was going to do, and a couple of my students said, “Well, not everyone is going to get lines,” and I said, “Well, not everyone gets solos and all those other things either but – guess what – you’re all going to be on-stage and you have your opportunity to have lines in my class.”

So, I think what we’re going to do is probably every class will get a scene. So, there’s a hairbrush scene and then there’s a lint roller scene and a vacuum cleaner scene and a granola bar scene and, of course, everyone wants to be the granola bar or a vacuum cleaner which I think is great. But, ideally – and not all my sixth graders are shorter than my eighth graders but – ideally, my cat hairs are going to get taller throughout the show.

Lindsay: Ah! They’re growing!

Jessica: We’ll start with small cat hairs and they’ll eventually get bigger and then you’ll have all these cat hairs that kill the character at the end because all these things die throughout and it’s just funny. It’s bizarre and it’s funny and we’re going to tie-dye shirts for the cat hairs and – gosh, darn it – we’re just kind of excited about it now.

Lindsay: Well, okay, here you go! What a lovely note to end on, though. Like, if you’re out there and you’ve got all these kids, divide up a play! Give this scene to this class, this scene to this class. Don’t get hung up on the fact that your cat hairs are short sixth graders and then they’re going to become tall eighth graders. I think that’s the beauty of theatre; as long as the people on-stage believe and go for it, your audience is going to go for it.

Jessica: Well, yeah, I mean, you’re brushing out the undercoat first anyway and that’s the shortest hair. So, you know, I’m just trying to make it logical and it’s working for me.

Lindsay: I think that’s a lovely note to end on and I think it’s awesome. I think it’s a great idea! I get so sad when I come across a teacher who says, “Well, I could never do that,” or, “My kids could never do that.” Why not take it in the complete opposite direction and say, “Well, why don’t we try? If it works, awesome; if it doesn’t work, well, we’ve had a learning moment,” and just let them experiment. They never get to experiment, really, do they?

Jessica: They really don’t, and that’s something that I think my kids really love – it’s that I’m like, “We’ll try that!” or they’ll ask me, “I just don’t feel like I should be moving over here during this scene,” “Okay, we’ll do something different. Where do you think you need to be?” because, you know, these middle school kids are in a really funky stage of their life. They’re kids and they’re young adults and their bodies are screaming at them and they get angry for no reason and they can’t tell you why they’re angry, you know? It’s a fun, interesting rollercoaster of an age and, if you can get those kids on your side, if you can get them to trust and believe that you are there for them, middle school kids will do anything you ask them to do. They’ll do anything. If you can make your room a family and make it feel safe where everyone feels like, “Hey, if I screw up, no one’s going to point and laugh and make me feel stupid,” you’re going to have one heck of a program. Because I have kids that want to be in here that just can’t because their schedule doesn’t fit, but I get emails, I get texts, I get phone calls every day, all day, from these kids because they know that they can count on me and they can count on each other and friendships have formed in here that no one would ever suspect and because they find something in common and theatre does that.

Lindsay: Lovely. That is so awesome. Thank you so much for talking to me today, Jessica.

Jessica: Thank you, Lindsay. I appreciate it. Any time.

Thank you, Jessica!

Before we go, let’s do some THEATREFOLK NEWS.

So, of course, we’ve been talking about plays – middle school plays – so we have to do this. It’s a play feature! It’s a play feature! It’s time to feature a play! And the play we’re going to feature is the one Jessica has been working on with her grade eight class, Hamlet, Zombie Killer of Denmark by Chris Stiles. To zombie or not to zombie? That is the question.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Zombies are a fad. They’re the thing that everyone is throwing into their literature these days, they’re throwing into their TV shows, but I’m telling you right now; it works with Hamlet. It is perfect for Hamlet. Not only that, Chris does not just throw zombies into Hamlet; he makes them speak iambic pentameter – in grunts. But I love how this play has the zombie world and it is weaved pretty seamlessly into the Shakespeare world.

Claudius has plans to turn Denmark into a land of the undead, and Hamlet must stop him! Or not stop him… He’s a little bit waffle-y. So, here, a little section. Hamlet tells Horatio what he has learned from his zombified father.

HORATIO: My lord! My lord! Lord Hamlet! What news, my lord?

HAMLET: You’ll be secret?

HORATIO: Ay, by heaven, my lord!

HAMLET: A zombie, a zombie takes the crown of Denmark.

A zombie king! And he will turn the land

Into a swarm of zombie rogues and fiends…

Mine uncle, mine own flesh and undead blood

Zombified my father, doomed him to

Eternal life of eating flesh and brains.

HORATIO: You got all that from just his moans and groans?

HAMLET: Non-verbal cues. Just like the game of charades.

HORATIO: These are but wild and whirling words, my lord.

HAMLET: I am sorry they offend you, heartily

But there be nothing pleasant ‘bout the zombie.

Never make known what you have seen tonight.

HORATIO: My lord, I will not.

HAMLET: Nay, but wear it. Swear by my sword.

ZOMBIE: (from offstage) Nnnnnn.

HORATIO: I swear!

That’s Hamlet – Hamlet, Zombie Killer of Denmark – at theatrefolk.com or in the show notes which are at theatrefolk.com/episode121.

And that’s where we’re going to end. Take care, my friends. Take care. Braaaaaains…

Music credit:”Ave” by Alex (feat. Morusque) is licensed under a Creative Commons license.