Jim Kenney, Brian Sims to Perform in Fringe Fest Zombie Play
Mayoral nominee Jim Kenney and State Representative Brian Sims will take a short break from politicking to venture into the world of acting next month when they make guest-star turns at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.
The politicians have agreed to appear in Tribe of Fools‘ Zombies … With Guns, which writer and star Terry Brennan tells me offers a variety of takes on America’s gun culture. Here’s how TOF describes the show:
“In a post-zombie-apocalypse a small group of humans are struggling to survive. Rent, the leader of the human group, has locked up all the humans’ guns and developed a controversial new method of non-violent measures to de-escalate zombie attacks that involves singing Bob Marley. Not everyone, however, believe that this method works. When a faction of humans demand that violence be used to combat violence the group begins falling apart.”
Each performance will feature a different celebrity guest, who will take part in the first scene, which is a zombie attack, says Brennan. “[Kenney and Sims] will be one of the attacking zombies. They’ll wrestle the cast members and try to bite them. There’s a twist ending to the first scene that I don’t want to give away, but they’ll play a key role in that.”
Sims and Kenney will take their turns on September 9th at 6 pm and September 12th at 8 pm, respectively.
Kenney camp representative Lauren Hitt told me Kenney decided to take part in the production to draw attention to the importance of supporting the arts. “It’s pretty common for politicians to tour a factory or a neighborhood to draw attention to different economic and social issues,” she said. “So when the troupe reached out, he thought why not do the equivalent for a play?”
Zombies … With Guns runs September 4-12 during the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Other guest stars include WXPN’s DJ Robert Drake (September 4th), Johnny Showcase (September 5th) and Fergie’s Pub owner Fergus Carey (September 10th). Tickets are $25 and can be purchased here.
