A misty day and chilly Friday evening set the perfect tone for “Night of The Teenage Zombies,” Foothill’s first play in five years.

“Night of The Teenage Zombies” told the story of a high school girl named Makenzie Thomas, played by Bethany Eckstrom, that begins to investigate the evildoings of her weird chemistry teacher Mr. Gorey, played by Judah Olsen, after some of her classmates start to disappear. Soon she discovers kids were being turned into zombies and she ends up being the only one left alive to save the town.

But the play had an interesting twist. When Makenzie is close to her death, she finds out that it had all been a movie production and everyone knew what going on except for her.

“Favorite part about the play; the sudden revealing at the end that it’s all an act,” said sophomore Joseph Perez.

The last five years have seen a hiatus in the production of plays from Foothill’s drama department.

“When I took it on, I was learning how to be a drama teacher, so I feared it, and now I’m ready to take it on!” said teacher Karen Rodrigues.

Rodrigues also said that donating a kidney to her brother made it difficult to start a production.

But now, with the help of her senior teacher’s assistant Megan Velzy-Lenington, Rodrigues has been able to jumpstart the program.

“I have a great TA whose name is Megan Lenington and without her this could not have happened the way it did,” said Rodrigues.

Velzy-Lenington was the director of the play. She has experience with drama and this play was a fun opportunity for her.

“I have been doing theater since I was about 10 and I began TA-ing for Mrs. Rodrigues specifically in the drama classes and started kind of helping out teaching there. She kind of handed the reigns over to me, let me take over, and this has become my baby now,” Velzy-Lenington said.

This play was not only a turning point for the drama department; it also proved to be a nice comical evening. The humor was perfectly timed and relatable, every actor was brilliant and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

“Seeing people’s reactions and actually hearing people laugh was the best part of it,” said Kinsey Thomas, a junior who played Jan Watson.

Veronica Lopez, a junior who played Gabby in the play, favored something else from tonight.

She said her favorite part was “just getting on stage because I was nervous this whole time and once you’re on stage you just feel so much better.”

The audience laughed with every scene of the play. There was always a comical aspect to the production, from goofy zombie walking to jokes that hit just at right time.

“My favorite part was when the screen fell over,” said sophomore Daniel Perez.

Although it was a small event, the play was a success for the drama department. Rodrigues has a few more plays in consideration for this year.

“We are planning a Carol Burnett night. Each drama class — and we have two of them — will perform one night each. It’s a comedy and it’s tons of fun. We are also thinking about a spring play,” she said.

Lenington also wants to put on more productions this year. She not only hopes to make some good plays, but also wants the actors to get something out of it.

“I really hope more than anything that they just had fun, I hope of course that they learn something about themselves as an artist and as a performer and take something valuable and start using it in their every day lives, that they make some friends and just grow as a human being.”

Credit: Felicia Perez/The Foothill Dragon Press

Credit: Emily Chacon & Bridget Parrino/The Foothill Dragon Press