A&E

Mad science, burlesque and projectiles in Midnight Fomato Society’s ‘Bad Head’

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Dancing and fighting and science! Huzzah!

A night at the theater can be a quiet exercise in profundity. You know—adult dialogue, heavy topics, respectfully hushed audiences. But if you've been to the Sci Fi Center you know that’s not its style, evidenced by the latest production from the Midnight Fomato Society. We’ll get to what a fomato is in a minute. First, read the description of Bad Head, running February 5 through March 25: “a sci-fi extravaganza about doctors that just want to experiment on the human body. Themes include but are not limited to Serum Z, Adreno Serum, burlesque, fighting, action, Germans, insults, blasphemy, limbs, fomatoes, comedy, science!!!! And much, much more!”

Producer/director John Tomasello says the script he wrote is a semi-original spoof of schlock gems The Brain that Wouldn’t Die, The Head and They Saved Hitler’s Brain. “The Adreno Serum and Serum Z are special formulas used in the show to keep limbs alive, and to help reattach them. The audience will provide the dramatic sounds for each,” Tomasello adds.

Audience participation is a big element of any Fomato show, mainly because of a species of faux fruit thrown at the actors in the community troupe like the real stuff was hurled in the old days. Like, Shakespeare-old. These fomatoes (also foamatoes or fauxmatoes) are handmade by Tomasello, out of dyed infant socks filled with foam. “We are bringing the best of Rocky Horror and Mystery Science Theater together and adding an element of Leslie Nielsen-type humor, while at the same time reviving an age-old theater tradition,” says Tomasello, a former Rocky Horror shadow-cast member and performer in Evil Dead: The Musical. (Meaning he’s “familiar with the sci-fi horror cult thing.”)

For Bad Head and its cast of eight, you can rent a piece of that tradition for 50 cents to a buck, depending how many fomatoes you desire. “They are meant to be thrown, not taken home. But the coolest thing is the Fomato Zone. Before the show, we auction, raffle, or sell front-row seats that are not only more comfortable, but you get unlimited fomatoes, because the actors are specially trained to swat and kick the fomatoes back to the audience,” Tomasello says. “All of the money from fomato sales and the Fomato Zone goes directly to the actors! … The more fomatoes thrown, the more they are paid."

How’s that for community theater? The Midnight Fomato Society has performed at the Onyx and the now-closed Box Office, including a stage version of 1964 film Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (which Pia Zadora apparently showed up for, as that was her movie debut when she was 8). Bad Head features characters like Dr. Dick Dickinson and Mama Hog, and a Special Fomato Secret is promised before the show begins. "If we develop a type of cult following we will extend the run; otherwise, we would love to have everyone back in April for Bucket of Blood,” Tomasello says, without further explanation.

How can you resist?

Bad Head February 5-March 25; Fridays, 9:30 p.m. doors; 10 p.m. show, $10 (fomatoes available before the show, cash-only). Sci Fi Center, 5077 Arville St., 855-501-4335.

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