Joyce Carol Oates’ writing often delves into the primal, emotional part of the human brain, but in her novella Zombie, she touches on the psychotic. In Bill Connington’s adaptation of the book, also titled Zombie—and now playing as part of the New York International Fringe Festival—he brings a new sense to the idea behind a child-molesting serial killer. Connington plays Quentin P., a thirty-something man in Detroit, who looks a lot like Mr. Rogers without the sweater vest and puppets. Not only does Connington appear fairly normal, his one man play, aided by a life-sized mannequin, voices both the normal person dialogue and the “he is completely off his rocker and scares me” voice. Directed by Thomas Caruso, Zombie proved to be an intense hour about the thought process that led Quentin P. to murder numerous boys. With a cold stare, Connington looked into the audience and then, in his heavy Midwestern accent, he logically revealed the reason he killed them, “[To] create a zombie. Someone who would fulfill my every need.”Additional showtimes are Aug. 13 at 3:30, Aug. 14 at 9:30, Aug. 15 at 5:15, Aug. 17 at 1, Aug. 21 at 7:15.The Players Loft, 115 MacDougal St. (btwn. West 3rd and Bleeker Streets), $15.
