Undead come to life for 5th annual Zombie Pub Crawl
If this story were a horror movie, it might open with a scene of a young Anne Murphy getting bitten by the theater bug as she first strolled onstage as a member of Hinsdale Central High School's Class of 2002. Anyone who stumbles across the 28-year-old Murphy this Saturday might assume it is that very theater bug that crawled under her skin, mutated and re-emerged to eat away the flesh on her face.
In a sense, they would be right.
"I was very involved in the theater program in high school," Murphy says, recalling the serious performance she gave in the Arthur Miller classic, "The Crucible."
But there is nothing serious about Murphy's performance Saturday when she gives life to her undead character as part of her improv comedy theater's 5th Annual Zombie Pub Crawl, which runs from 2 to 9 p.m. around the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago. Registration begins at 1:30 at pH Comedy Theater, 1515 W. Berwyn Ave., Chicago.
Looking like extras in a George Romero movie or the popular AMC TV show "The Walking Dead," hundreds of participants pay $25 registration fees, dress in their best zombie costumes and amble along Clark Street from bar to bar and food truck to food truck.
"People really have fun with it," Murphy says of the legions who break out their imaginations along with the gore. "It's not just about grossing people out."
The Zombie Pub Crawl is a fundraiser for the innovative pH Comedy Theater where Murphy serves as touring director and a cast member. While Murphy originally went to Loyola University as a theater major, she ended up in communications and now works in the business world for a research firm during the week and does improv comedy theater on the weekends.
Murphy was still in high school and doing more traditional theater when she landed a spot with a Hinsdale Central student group called Comedy Sportz Improv.
"Then I realized I'd rather do improv than memorize lines," she quips. "Improv lets you get to the guts of the scene. You're in the moment, right then and there."
Murphy gets the chance to spread the joy of improv in her roles with the pH Comedy Theater. The troupe uses a mix of different performers to create a good chemistry onstage, or, as is often the case with Murphy's group, offstage.
The Zombie Pub Crawl is basically a massive audience participation sketch. Started in Minneapolis, the idea is simple: Let people dress up like zombies and roam the neighborhood bars and businesses from the afternoon into the evening.
"It's more fun with a comedy theater hosting it," says Murphy. Her previous costumes have included a zombie newscaster, surgeon and police officer, but this year she says she plans to go with a group of women as members of a zombie baseball team from "A League of Their Own."
"It's pretty funny to see a whole bar of 200 or 300 zombies screaming out, 'Brains!'" says Murphy, who notes that the event has grown every year. "We're trying to get 1,000 zombies this year."
5th Annual Zombie Pub Crawl
When: 2 to 9 p.m. Saturday, April 28
Where: Registration begins at 1:30 at pH Comedy Theater, 1515 W. Berwyn Ave., Chicago. Pub crawl is in the Andersonville neighborhood, featuring bars on Clark Street between Foster and Bryn Mawr.
Price: $25
Info and registration: