The new production opening Friday is split into two acts. The first is a condensed version of the original play and the second is a comedic spoof called “The Prince Formerly Known as Hamlet: A Justin Thyme Mystery.”

William Shakespeare included a ghost in his play “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” but you won’t find any zombies in the Bard’s original work. The Acrosstown Repertory Theatre’s re-imagining of “Hamlet,” however, welcomes the walking dead.

The new production opening Friday is split into two acts. The first is a condensed version of the original play and the second is a comedic spoof called “The Prince Formerly Known as Hamlet: A Justin Thyme Mystery.”

The director of the play, Bobby Jones, says the addition of zombies into the comedic second act was a “happy accident.” He couldn’t figure out how to remove dead characters from the stage without them standing and walking off.

“I racked my brain of how I would get these guys off stage, and finally one day I told them to just get up and walk off like a zombie,” he says. “It was so funny that we added three or four more instances where the zombies appear, and it continued to evolve from there.”

The drama “Hamlet” was condensed from five acts into just one. Jones said he decided to add the comedy after the original to make the story more accessible to modern audiences.

“I wanted to have the joke set up in the plot of the original and then have people go ‘Oh, that’s what they are talking about,’ during the second act,” Jones said.

The cast has been rehearsing for more than two months, but it was a challenge to find actors who were able to master both genres of the play, Jones says.

“To find an actor that can do comedy well and can also establish a serious role in a drama is no easy feat,” he says.

Assistant director Samara Golabuk said audiences will be able to relate to the actors and the plot through the addition of the second act.

“You get a whole other look of the ideas and themes behind the story, but it’s modernized so there is not necessarily the language barrier found in Shakespeare,” she says.

At 8 tonight, the Acrosstown Theatre is pairing up with the Alachua County Crisis Center for a donation-only benefit preview performance. All proceeds will benefit the crisis center. Golabuk said this non-profit group was chosen since it aids with suicide prevention.

“Suicide pops up a lot throughout ‘Hamlet,’ and the benefit tied in well with the theme,” she says. “It’s a great cause to support.”

The theater is also offering a free, open “talk-back” session following each Sunday matinee, in which audiences will be able to speak with special guests and the cast about the production process and the play’s themes.

“We are always after more interest and audience engagement,” Golabuk says. “This show is the best of both worlds.”