Picky Zombies - Clinton Festa

Stories Found

About This Episode

In this special Halloween edition of Stories Found, we’re talking to the fantastic playwright and author, Clinton Festa and then listening to his super funny ten-minute play, Picky Zombies.

Picky Zombies – Tragedy strikes at the fancy French cooking school when an inept student under cooks the foie gras leading to a mass zombie infection. The extraction team sent to rescue the lone surviving student quickly learns that not all braaaaaains are created equal and even zombies appreciate gourmet cuisine.

About the Playwright – Clinton Festa

Clinton Festa began his career as a writer and cartoonist for his campus humor magazine. Since then he’s had short plays produced around the U.S. and Canada, comedy sketches that have placed in national competitions, and a novel recently published with CamCat Books (Ancient Canada: a Mythological Tale). During the pandemic, he wrote and directed a seven-episode action-comedy podcast called The Malone Family in the Enchanted Forest (produced by the Cary Playwrights’ Forum). Clinton runs an online book drive for inmates in prisons and juvenile detention centers called Sentences Book Donations. He lives in Greensboro, NC with his wife and children.

Read more of Clinton’s plays on NPX, The New Play Exchange.

Order Clinton’s book, Ancient Canada: a Mythological Tale at CamCat Books.

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About the Cast

Picky Zombies was performed for us by:

Liz Bernstein

Liz Bernstein (she/her/hers) is a training facilitator and career coach in Central Florida. Her first loves, however, are acting, singing, performing, and creative writing. In the Central Florida area, she has performed with the Gemini Blvd collegiate a cappella group, Orlando Cringe, Phoenix Tears Productions, Central Florida Community Arts, and Playwrights Roundtable. She has also worked virtually with the Fragmented Festival and is excited to continue working virtually with Stories Found. Liz is a core collective member of Whiskey Theatre Factory, a group dedicated to producing meaningful theatrical productions that uplift, develop, and celebrate emerging and untapped voices. With Whiskey Theatre Factory, she has helped with new play development and production, including new works in the Orlando Fringe Festival. Most recently, Liz was honored to perform the role of “Amy” in Ava Love Hanna’s piece, There Will Be Bears for PRT’s production of Launch.

Joe Llorens

Joe Llorens has been a performer for over twenty years. In that time, he’s done things. Some of those things he’s liked, even. Joe will keep trying to do things he likes and not be as judgy about the things he doesn’t like because he really should cut himself a bit of a break. He loves his wife, children, and pets, though. A lot.

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Paul Hanna

Paul Hanna is an audio engineer, musician, and performer. When he’s not playing guitar, showing up in one of Ava’s plays, editing this podcast, or hanging out with his super cool teenager, he can be found hitting the ice at his favorite hockey rink or working as lead engineer at ELA Studios.

Ava Love Hanna

Ava Love Hanna is a professional writer, published playwright, and award-winning speaker and storyteller. She is continually amazed by how often she is mistaken for a real grown-up.

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Featured Organization: Sentences Book Donations

Our featured organization this week is Sentences: Book Donations. Their goal is to network readers with prison librarians and juvenile detention centers to determine their needs and donate books for use in their facilities.

You can find the group on Facebook or Goodreads. We encourage you to visit them and see how you can donate books and help further their mission.

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