left to right: John Santo, Julian Zambrano, Jennifer Novak Chun
photo by Sebastian Munoz
Zombie Joe's Underground Theatre, located in a modest storefront in North Hollywood, is one of the most innovative - and perhaps least appreciated - theater companies in Los Angeles. For many years, this offbeat theater ensemble - led by producer Zombie Joe (his real name is a fairly well-kept secret) - has been producing season after season of shows ranging from gothic/horror to romantic musicals to skewed adaptations of Shakespeare, all in a unique and captivating style.
From riffs on grade-B sci-fi and horror flicks to reinventions of romantic musicals, Zombie Joe consistently engages a perspective on the post-modern world and all its splendid faults that is refreshing and enlightening. The latest of many offerings is Sex and Love in the Modern Age, a jaundiced take on dating, porn, hooking up and even romance in the 21st century. Written by John Santo and directed by Sebastian Munoz, the production is one of the tamer offerings for ZJU Theatre, but it still carries the company's signature sting.
The show is really a series of sketches that range from lampooning to even a bit of (gasp) sentimentality. From bondage to bromance, and from masturbation to motherhood, the show ranges across a landscape littered with dreams and broken hearts. One of the hallmarks of Zombie Joe's theater is the acting, which is intentionally rough around the edges - always professional but never slick. At Zombie Joe's, the performers seem like folks you might know rather than the pretty-perfect creatures that often inhabit our screens and local stages.
In that way, Zombie Joe's company is a 21st-century version of some of the companies that graced our stages during the heyday of American theater. Companies like Richard Foreman's Ontological Hysteric Theater or the theater of Charles Ludlum, which in turn drew their inspiration from the European theater of the Absurd. While many theater companies continue to plow the well-tilled fields of realism, Zombie Joe continues the exciting absurdist tradition that views the world through a topsy-turvy looking glass. The result is a worldview that is rarely presented - or even dreamt of -- by most theater companies. With shows bearing titles like Urban Death, Blood Alley, Astroglyde and Captain Dan Dixon versus the Moth Sluts from the Fifth Dimension, you are always in for a special treat at Zombie Joe's.