Robert Dennick Joki learned a lot going to church Passion Plays growing up.

Not all of it was biblical.

Those memories, along with performing in musicals like “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Godspell,” inspired the original musical “Jesus vs. the Zombies,” which Rust Belt Theater Company will stage for four performances starting Friday at Club Switch.

“I was raised evangelical,” Joki said. “I was raised in the Southern Baptist church, and growing up in a small town, when you want to do theater, there are very, very limited opportunities. And one of the opportunities you have is performing at your church. And the big Easter Passion Play is always the biggest one. My friends and I and members of my youth group, we used to go and see multiple ones every single year.

“One of my favorite memories is that we used to go see a play, and they would go all out in terms of special effects makeup. And I remember one when Jesus would get the lashes from the cat o’ nine tails, they would dip this whip, which was made up of rope with not tighten it, they would get into strawberry Jell-O, so that when they hit Jesus, there would be red Jell-O all over the place, and the whole church would smell like strawberry Jell-O. That’s one of the things that inspired me to parody those kinds of shows.”

In “Jesus vs. the Zombies,” which Joki wrote with Josh Taylor, a struggling community theater is trying to determine the best course of action — create a show that will please an older, more conservative theater audience or try something edgy that will appeal to a younger demographic, like a zombie story. They end up with a mashup of the two.

“What this one’s really about is people trying to come together and create something new and exciting that speaks to an audience, which is what we do as a theater company,” Joki said. “One of the things that I like about doing original work, is that I kind of look at the community and the kind of things that the community wants to see or the kind of messages that I think the community needs, and that’s what we produce most of our work around.

“Of course the title of the show is very irreverent, but there are similar themes between Passion Plays and zombie flicks, which is something that we talk about quite a bit in the show. It’s really not that far-fetched of an idea. There’s a little bit in the show between Jesus and Lazarus, because Lazarus was someone who was raised from the dead.That is a common trope in horror movies.”

“Jesus vs. the Zombies” was first staged by Rust Belt in 2019. Joki planned to bring it back in 2021, but the turnout for auditions still was depressed by the lingering effects COVID-19 pandemic and he wasn’t able to cast it.

He had better luck this time.

“We’ve been getting a lot more interest in auditions lately,” Joki said. “When I’m planning what shows to do, I always look at who I have currently involved and what shows kind of fit that group of people. It just was the perfect time to do this.”

The cast features Caitlyn Murphy, Shelby Gossick, Charity Bauer, Jon Bunge, Rachael Kerr, Lisa Torrence, Vasi Sfikas, Keith Stepanic, Eric McCrea, Caitlyn Santiago, Caitlin Marie Cole, Jennifer Koprivnak, Gavin McNamara and Joki.

Rust Belt’s shows definitely won’t please all audiences, but Joki said the goal isn’t to offend.

“I try very hard not to be disrespectful, because I actually do respect people who have faith in any religion,” he said. “I don’t consider myself to be a Christian, but I would definitely say that a lot of my values are the same as Christianity, so it’s always a fine line to kind of like joke about something but still have reverence … Ultimately, what I want is for people to have a good time and also maybe to think just a little bit.”

If you go …

WHAT: Rust Belt Theater Company ­– “Jesus vs. the Zombies”

WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday through April 26

WHERE: Club Switch, 221 Belmont Ave., Youngstown

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $15 and can be reserved by calling 330-507-2358.