Three married couples, two father-daughter pairs, and countless friendships make up the cast of the Maverick Theater’s “Night of the Living Dead.”
And one of those couples even met while working in the annual production that marks 20 years this 2025 season. When they call themselves family — they really mean it.
“Chris and I met as cast members in 2015. He was a new zombie, I typically help onboard the new zombies. I help them understand the makeup process, among other things,” said Becky Jones, of Fullerton, whose in her 15th year in the show. “I helped Chris — in fact I put his contacts in for him and still do. … This season is Chris and my 10th year doing the show together. ‘Til death do us part’ is a pretty funny saying to us. Death is how it all started.”
“Night of the Living Dead” opened Sept. 19 and runs until Nov. 1 in the Fullerton theater, this year with two casts to help accommodate 10 additional performances. Over the years, the show has developed such a following that it usually sells out by opening night.
The production is based on the 1968 George A. Romero film about a group of people trapped in a farmhouse during an outbreak of zombies. The movie is credited with introducing the modern, flesh-eating zombie now common in horror pop culture.
“I think the zombie apocalyptic genre that Romero created with this low-budget indy film has become a cultural myth that will be explored for centuries to come. And I feel so proud that my adaptation of his work has entertained thousands over the past two decades. It certainly has introduced hundreds of people to live theater that had never experienced this type of entertainment before. And that’s the stuff that keeps me doing this year after year,” said Brian Newell, who co-owns Maverick Theater with his wife, Heidi, adapted and directs the show. “To date, we have had 305 performances of NOLD and I’ve run sound and lights for 301 of those shows — and I could do it for another 300. I love this show.”
Heidi said she loves how people come back year after year, bringing “newbies” they are excited to share the experience and the jump scares with.
“This show, more than the other (annual shows), has an inherent family feel,” she said. “When there is this much stage combat and physicality, you have to have absolute trust in one another to be there. We shove (a) small girl through a window to land on someone’s back and she exits the same window. There has to be someone to catch on each side. That is just one example, but you need to know when that bat is coming down towards your head or the crash at the end. That type of choreography creates a special bond amongst the cast members.”
Joe Sanders (aka “Zombie Joe”), of Huntington Beach, and his 19-year-old daughter, Kairi, are one of the father-daughter pairs in the cast. Joe has been with the show since it opened on Oct. 6, 2006 and Kairi joined the cast when she was 8 years old in 2014.
“I joined the cast two days before the show started with zero theater experience. At the time, I worked with Heidi Newell, co-owner of the Maverick, and found out they needed a zombie for the show they were opening,” Joe said. “Came in, met Brian Newell, director and co-owner of the Maverick, and was asked to do the various things a zombie would do as an audition. Apparently, I did pretty well, as I’m still here 20 years later.”
He started out only performing as a zombie, but then a couple years later, he became more involved with the tech side as well.
“Since then, I’ve done everything from set the load-in and strike, fight and combat coordinator, zombie wrangler and instructor, and basically any other job that needs to be done,” he said. “I have also been assistant director of the show for several years now.”
In terms of playing zombie, Joe said he loves the challenge of it.
“Many times, you will hear me refer to Zombie Joe in the third person. That’s because, to me, he is a completely separate entity from myself. Once I put my eyes in and that makeup on my face, (I’ve) become something different,” he said. “It’s very physically demanding. It takes a toll on your mind and body. I have personally invested blood, sweat, tears and even my teeth — yes, I broke two teeth in rehearsal once — into this show. Sometimes you wake up, get in the shower and notice that you have the most gnarly bruise somewhere. You may not have a clue what caused it or how you got it. But it’s there. We wear them like badges of honor, and they are almost always shown to other cast members as such.”
Joe said watching Kairi grow as an actor and young woman is one of the highlights for him of being in the show.
Kairi said when she first started in the show in 2014, the actor that previously played the homeowner’s daughter was aging up to the role of “Karen Cooper.”
“I had gone to a rehearsal the previous year and loved it,” Kairi said. “Over the years, my show has changed a lot. For my first three years I played ‘Sydney,’ then for six years I played Karen, and then last year I was a full-time zombie.”
With two casts this year, she will be playing “Judy” in one cast and a zombie in the other.
“I have done this show for over half my life and I have been incredibly lucky to have grown up with all the amazing cast members to look up to. Getting to come back every year and being surrounded by the cast is truly the best thing,” she said. “It is so amazing and comforting to know that while I have my theater family with me, I also have someone in my immediate family with me. Over the years, the roles we have had in the show have not interacted much together, but I am so excited for this year where we get to interact in the big second fight in the show.”
Briana Tryon, of Orange, who plays one of the lead characters, “Barbara,” married Frank Tryon, who plays “Mr. Cooper” on Sept. 6 of this year (coincidentally, the Maverick Theater opened Sept. 6, 2002).
“I didn’t meet Frank during NOLD, but we did meet during another show at the Maverick called ‘The Sting’ in 2013 — which obviously changed the course of my life,” she said.
This is Tryon’s 12th year performing as “Barbara.”
“I originally wanted to be in this show because it was unlike anything I had done before on stage. I was so intrigued by the zombies, the effects, the physicality and the effect it had on people,” she said. “It’s been incredible playing ‘Barbara’ all these years. The camaraderie of the cast and the fans, new and old, make the show what it is. It’s so much fun, we are all family, and it’s a blast to see the returning fans every year, and even better to see the new crowds that come in and how we instantly hook them in and get them addicted. To see them coming out of the show, not having expected the experience they just had, they always thank us profusely and it’s a joy to be able to witness it. My favorite is when people tell us that Halloween doesn’t start for them until they see the show.”
She said she’s changed how she delivers her performance over time. As she’s aged with the role, she said she’s made “Barbara” more mature.
“It feels silly to play her the same naive, innocent, and frankly, annoying at times way I played her in the beginning,” Tryon said. “She’s got a little patina to her now, a little more life experience, and well, her joints aren’t as supple as they once were.”
Scott Manuel Johnson, who played the original “Ben” in that first year of the show, has performed as the character for eight years including this 2025 season.
“The first year was truly trial by error,” Johnson said. “That particular year we hammered out all the problematic issues. It’s interesting to see how fluid the show has become. Overall, the show hasn’t changed much from my perspective, apart from small tweaks and cast changes over the years. The character ‘Ben’ is the same driving force of redemption that I embraced that opening year.”
He said he keeps coming back for a few reasons.
“I love working with Brian and Heidi no matter how much time has passed and [the] show has a very special place in my heart,” he said. “As an actor, the challenge of bringing Ben’s emotional and physical journey to life is something I cherish each time I return as well as working with such phenomenal actors at the Maverick. Ultimately, it’s my affection for ‘Ben’ that brings me back. Searching to peel back even more layers to this guy no matter how many times I’ve done it is so exciting as an actor.”
Hailey Tweter, of Huntington Beach, first played the character “Judy” in 2018. This year, for the first time, she will play “Barbara” in one of the two casts. She originally got involved with the theater through her then-boyfriend, now-husband Jaycob Hunter, who worked at the theater. In addition to other shows at the theater, the couple has been playing the couple “Tom” and “Judy” in this show. They also had their 2023 monster-themed wedding on the show’s set, with most of their wedding party being cast mates from the show and participating as various film horror characters.
“The irony of this show is that it tells the tale of people struggling to get along and work together during a crisis, yet our cast works exactly the opposite,” Tweter said. “The show and cast often operate like a well-oiled machine, and everyone is committed to supporting the show as a whole. Those of us who come back year after year do so because we all love creating a space where audiences can forget their troubles, even for an hour. And in doing so we also create a safe space of fun and support for one another.”
Tweter, who is a licensed marriage and family therapist specializing in Neurodiversity Affirming Therapy for adults, said that before joining the cast, she wasn’t a horror fan at all.
“I had a rough and traumatic start to life and tended to shy away from horror as a result. I didn’t like feeling fear, having experienced so much of it as a child,” she said. “It seems unthinkable now, but I used to have a phobia of zombies and would often have nightmares about them. But the beautiful thing nobody tells you about joining the horror fan community is that it’s a community of survivors, not villains. Those who make horror do so not just to scare people — although it is quite fun — but to remind people that we are more than our fear, especially when we work together. This show was therapeutic to me because I no longer see zombies as a manifestation of the fear of death, but a reminder to love people while they are here.”
Mike Schaefer, of Santa Ana, said he and his wife first attended the show in 2009. He said in those early years, they didn’t make it every season, but since 2012, they’ve been regulars — attending with various groups of friends.
“Even though I know the story fairly well, it still grips me every time. The suspense never fades. The tension is always strong. It’s exciting. I enjoy seeing both the talented actors coming back to reprise their characters, and seeing new faces in the roles. I watch for variations the actors may make in the performances,” he said. “The staging is very well done, as are their use of props and special effects. Fires, crashes, just the overall atmosphere. I really enjoy the full immersion that the show provides. It’s also a great excuse to get out of the house, reconnect with friends and catch up with the Newells and some of the cast.”
Photos by Jessica Peralta
