Our Zombie Town

Very enjoyable

I have seen various productions of Our Town over the years and having familiarity with the script increased my enjoyment of this take off. It was great fun to see how the script writer used various elements in the original to make the zombie thing work.

Zombies and lessons

This show was a lot of fun! For a zombie parody of our town, I did not expect it to go in the directions that it did! I appreciated the lessons to be learned from the show. We all just might learn something from these brain eaters!

Do not need to be familiar with Our Town

I almost didn't go see this show because of earlier negative reviews and I'm so glad I went! Silly with some bleakness mixed in. I am not familiar with the original Our Town but I didn't need to be to enjoy it.

Rational minds CAN differ

The variability of reviews for this charmer was quite the surprise (a 1 to 5s and everything in between! As for us (my sister and I): we loved it: political, clever, funny, great acting. Warren Bowles diatribe was fabulous (and funny) and George's physical Zombie acting equally so. OK, they muffed at least one line on Tuesday night, but this is Fringe (not the Guthrie).

Lots of zombies, lots to love!

As a theatre person who isn’t the biggest Our Town fan (but loves parodies of things) I was excited to see this production! It gave great homage to the original play, while also making it something brand new. Hopefully the Wilder estate doesn’t say anything about it… ;) It’s a must see if you know Our Town and also love the Fringe Festival!

A lovely production

Fantastical, zany, witty, eerie

Flying limbs, Molotov cocktails, stellar acting — and turns a mirror to the state of society today and invites us to look inward. This is a Must-See show, according to PiPress critics: https://www.twincities.com/2025/08/02/fringe-review-our-zombie-town-is-a-witty-eerie-reflection-on-todays-world/

Loved it!

All of the characters were well-developed, the story was fresh and relevant, and the wood chipper was hysterical!

Well written and acted with some good laughs.

I was pleasantly pleased by this play. The humor and the wit came through to make this a fun experience. Richard Chin has written a play that is relevant to our times poking fun at our modern lifestyles without being condescending. The acting was very good and kudos to young actors Zachary and Madeline who did a superb job in their roles as George and Emily.

Clever premise, but rough and slow

The story's premise is clever and along with its message ( it does have one ) there was enough to carry me along. The show starts very slow, although the action and laughs do pick up as the show progresses. But If you saw the preview performance you've already seen the only really funny bit of the performance. Some actors dropped their lines but most put some real heart into their performance. All-in-all this is part of fringe: not quite polished, not quite done, not quite there. I was just hoping for a bit more.

Halloween in August

If you love horror comedy with a dash of political humor and social commentary, Our Zombie Town is totally worth your time. Cast standouts included Catherine Hanson who goes all in on being a zombie, Sarah Broude and her perfect comedic timing, Mickaylee Shaughnessy and her acting exercises for all us theater geeks in the house, and Madeline McKenny as Emily, who 100% understood the assignment and I have a feeling we will be hearing more from. My only quibble was the Stage Manager calling for line. It was unclear as to whether it was a nod to the play within the play, or the actor going up on his lines. Just make the choice one way or another if lines are a struggle, and stick with it. Just one of those fringey things that adds to the charm.

Good concept

Exceptionally well done

I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect with a Thornton Wilder homage, but this show delivered 110%. The narrator was excellent throughout. The storyline was entertaining, but it also made you think about societal fabric, political issues and larger themes of happiness. This show knocked it out of the park for me. And Emily is more than just fringe pretty! ;)

Cozy

A charming and funny cast makes this the comfiest zombie apocalypse ever.

Hilarious spoof

Audience was in stitches as zombies take over Our Town, with themes from the pandemic, social media and politics.

The ending has stuck with me

I've been in Our Town myself, and I enjoyed this parody. Some parts were ragged, but the final image (the people of the town sitting in separate chairs, each glued to their phones, their faces illuminated only by the phone light) has stuck with me since I've seen the show. It's a perfect parody of the last act (in which people in the chairs represented the dead in the graveyard) and a sly response to what has always seemed to me to be the most important line in the last act of the original: "Let's look at one another!" Good theater makes you think as well as laugh, and that final image will stick with me.

Zombies that make you think

A playful mash-up of zombie lore and Thornton Wilder's classic play, with the pandemic and current events deftly woven in. Amid all the mayhem and shifting juxtapositions, the play raises some thought-provoking questions about identity: who were we, who are we now, who do we want to be? (Satisfyingly grisly props, too!)

As someone who was once in Our Town...

I'm very much in the target audience for this show, and I quite enjoyed it.

Average, boring and slow

I was initially excited to see this show but was disappointed right from the start. The narrator stumbled over his lines constantly and couldn't seem to recall them properly. The pacing was slow, the acting was sub-par to average (except for the two young actors--George was especially talented), and the storyline was not very engaging much of the time. The only time it picked up was (spoiler alert) after all of the town becomes zombified. But even the hokey-pokey part was cute at first and then overly long (we got the point with the first stanza, and then it was dumb, like telling the joke too many times.) I expected much more from this show because of the pedigreed director/Hollywood actor's imprint, but this zombie send-up of beloved "Our Town" ultimately came off like a student project-level script that needs more workshopping.

Didn't really land...

Pacing was very slow, the frame work of 'Our Town' was barely there other than to mock it, which is true to parody but I expected it to influence things a bit more. The messaging was definitely a choice, but it wasn't very nuanced. There was a moment of absolute surrealism where I couldn't believe my eyes that this was what I was sitting and watching.

witty and thought provoking

The script by local journalist Richard Chin is delightful. The talented cast makes the most of it with pathos and humor. Love the "woodchipper" and the hokey pokey dance! The end is moving and thought provoking. Is to be "Normal" what we really want?? Nice work