The Gerald Lynch Theater at John Jay College presents Zombie, an unflinching look into the disturbed mind of a serial killer written and performed by Bill Connington, adapted from the novella of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates, as a part of the Art of Justice series. The show is performed on Wednesday, March 10; Friday, March 12; and Saturday, March 13 at 7pm at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, 899 Tenth Avenue, NYC. Tickets are $15 (CUNY students FREE with Valid ID), and are available at www.ticketcentral.com or by phone at 212-279-4200.
In Bill Connington's Zombie, audiences are shown the private life of Oates' Quentin P. - sex offender, serial killer, and deceptively mild-mannered monologuist. The New York Times called the piece "a chilling one-man study of perversity" while The Village Voice said that the play delivers "a haunting glimpse into the mind of a serial killer." Zombie won an award in 2008 as Outstanding Solo Show from the FringeNYC Overall Excellence Awards. Thomas Caruso directs. Scenic design by Josh Zangen, lighting design by Joel E. Silver and music / sound design by Deirdre Broderick.
The Friday performance will include a pre-show panel discussion beginning at 5:30pm with Joyce Carol Oates, as well as John Jay's own forensic psychologists and serial killer experts Dr. Louis Schlesinger, Dr. Katherine Ramsland, and Dr. Abby Stein. Joyce Carol Oates, winner of the National Book Award and a three-time nominee for the Pulitzer Prize, is a prolific author known for her exceptional insight into the dark underbelly of the human psyche. After the performance, Ms. Oates will sign copies of Zombie as well as her latest novel. The Wednesday and Saturday performances will include a talk-back with Bill Connington after the performances.
Bill Connington is an actor and playwright. As actor: The Joyce Carol Oates Reading Series (Society Library); ZOMBIE (Fringe FestivalNY and Off-Broadway), Spectacle of Spectacles (La MaMa), Mr. Gallico (HERE Theatre), All Mixed Up Inside My Head (La MaMa), Just Like That (John Houseman Theater), and his own one-man play, Dating Rituals of the American Male (Royal Theater). Also: regional theater, tv, and independent film. Upcoming performances: Love Letters and A Cheever Evening (Society Library). As playwright: God and the Supermodel, The Perfect Lady, Walker, and The Relationship Thing. His plays Lord Byron's Lover; Teach Me All About Love, Johnny Mathis; and his adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray have been performed in New York. He is a graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
Thomas Caruso, director. Credits include: the musical Wood, starring Tony Award Winner Cady Huffman (NYMF), Zombie by Bill Connington, adapted from the novella by Joyce Carol Oates (Fringe FestivalNY, and Off-Broadway), Diagnosis (59 East 59th), the musical Mimi Le Duck, starring Eartha Kitt (Off-Broadway), the musical Bingo (Off-Broadway), and Terrence McNally and Israel Horovitz's Off Season - a Duet (Gloucester Stage). He directed and composed All American Boy, for Fringe FestivalNY. Also: National Tour of Master Class by Terrence McNally. He was the Resident Director of Mamma Mia! in Las Vegas. On Broadway: Associate Director for Bombay Dreams and Follies by Stephen Sondheim. Assisted on Broadway productions including Love! Valour! Compassion and Master Class with Zoe Caldwell and Faye Dunaway, and Les Misérables (10th Anniversary).
Joyce Carol Oates has written some of the most enduring fiction of our time. In a prolific and varied career that ranges over several genres of fiction, Joyce Carol Oates has proven herself one of the most influential and important storytellers in the literary world. She is the author of more than 70 books, including best-selling novels, short story collections, poetry collections, plays, literary criticism, and essays. Oates is a recipient of the National Book Award, the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction, and The Common Wealth Award for Distinguished Service in Literature. She has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize three times, and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978. Joyce Carol Oates was born in 1938, and grew up in upstate New York. While a scholarship student at Syracuse University, she won the coveted Mademoiselle fiction competition. She graduated as valedictorian, then earned an MA at the University of Wisconsin. In 1968, she started teaching at the University of Windsor. In 1978, she began teaching creative writing at Princeton University, where she in now the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities. Oates has produced some of the most controversial, and lasting fiction of our time. Her novel THEM, set in racially volatile 1960s Detroit, won the 1970 National Book Award. BECAUSE IT IS BITTER, BECAUSE IT IS MY HEART, focused on an interracial teenage romance. BLACK WATER, a novel based on the Kennedy-Chappaquiddick scandal, earned a Pulitzer Prize nomination, and her national bestseller BLONDE, a work based on the American icon Marilyn Monroe, became a National Book Award Finalist, and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. She received the 2005 Prix Femina for THE FALLS. Although Oates has called herself, "a serious writer, as distinct from entertainers or propagandists," her novels have enthralled a wide audience, and WE WERE THE MULVANEYS earned the #1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list. Ms. Oates writes an average of two books a year. Her work frequently has dealt with themes of sexual abuse, desire for power, and violence.
Since opening its doors in 1988, the Gerald W. Lynch Theater has been an invaluable cultural resource for John Jay College and the larger New York City community. Under the new direction of Executive Director Shannon R. Mayers, the Theater is dedicated to the creation and presentation of performing arts programming of all disciplines with a special focus on how the artistic imagination can shed light on the many perceptions of justice in our society. The Theater has hosted prestigious events for Lincoln Center Festival, Great Performances, Julliard, Alvin Ailey and numerous television specials for HBO and Comedy Central.
About John Jay College of Criminal Justice: An international leader in educating for justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice of The City University of New York offers a rich liberal arts and professional studies curriculum to upwards of 14,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 135 nations. In teaching, scholarship and research, the College approaches justice as an applied art and science in service to society and as an ongoing conversation about fundamental human desires for fairness, equality and the rule of law. For more information, visit www.jjay.cuny.edu.
For more information, visit www.jjay.cuny.edu/theater.php.
