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July 2008
Hosts: Glen and Deb Bartram
Guards! Guards!
by Stephen Briggs (Adapted from the novel by Terry Pratchett)
Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels have sold more than 45
million copies worldwide. Discworld is a land where swords
and sorcery ride right along with wit, adventure, and… more
wit. Guards! Guards! Is the story of the Night Watchmen in
the city of Ankh-Morpork, where the criminals maintain the
peace because they're on the city payroll. Magic is strictly
regulated, and mimes are outlawed. (Thank heavens!) Great
beasts such as dragons are merely the stuff of myths and
legends, and no longer have a place in an ordered society.
Or do they…? Capt. Sam Vimes of the Watch along with Constable Carrot
Ironfounderson (a 6 foot 6 inch dwarf?) match wits against
the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night (or is that the
Ancient Brethren of Ee? Who can keep these secret societies
straight) with the help of the Watch guardsmen, a
noblewoman, and…a 300 lb. orangutan librarian to stop the
overheated lizard from turning the city into fiery hors-d-overes.
Hilarity ensues. Cast: 9 major roles and 24 minor roles
June 2008
7:00 PM
Hosts: The Smiths of Ashburn
Game
Show by Lew Riley (comedy, PG-13)
This comedy goes behind the scenes and then in front of the
cameras as it follows five fascinating contestants: a
fidgety Vietnam veteran; a know-it-all senator's assistant;
and cocky young filmmaker, along with a dizzy
housewife/author; and a bubbly senior citizen — from the
time they meet backstage at a popular game show until one of
them wins the grand prize; And then there are the hilarious
antics of the game show's narcissistic emcee and his
beautiful bimbo of an assistant. Who was the only bachelor
president? What boy dubbed Lauren Becall's voice when she
sang in To Have and Have Not? What was unusual about Babe
Ruth's uniform when he hit 60 home runs? These and other
intriguing questions are answered during Game Show, a warm
and witty look at an American institution — the television
game show. Please note that this play has some strong
language which may be deleted.
Cast: 5 men and 5 women.
May 2008
Co-Hostesses: Barb Gillen and Lora Buckman
Show: The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder
A certain old merchant of Yonkers is now so rich that he
decides to take a wife. To this end, he employs a
matchmaker, a woman who subsequently becomes involved with
two of his menial clerks, assorted young and lovely ladies,
and the headwaiter at an expensive restaurant, where this
swift farce runs headlong into a hilarious climax of
complication. After everyone gets all straightened out
romantically, and everyone has his heart’s desire, the
merchant of Yonkers finds himself affianced to the astute
matchmaker herself. He who was so shrewd in business is
putty in the hands of a player like the matchmaker. He is
fooled by apprentices in a series of hilarious hide-and-seek
scenes, and finally has all his bluster explode in his face.
Cast: 9 males and 7 females
April 2008
Host: Leah Daily
Baby with the Bathwater by
Christopher Durang
Helen and John are very unprepared for parenthood. They
can’t seem to name the baby. John thinks it’s a boy, but
Helen says the doctors said they could decide later. When
the baby cries, they can’t quite decide what to do. To their
rescue comes Nanny – who enters their apartment as if by
magic, and is full of abrupt shifts of mood, first cooing at
the baby soothingly, then screaming at it. In subsequent
scenes, John and Nanny have an affair, Helen takes baby and
leaves, only to come back a moment later, rain-soaked and
unhappy. (“Well if it isn’t Nora five minutes after the end
of A Doll’s House,” says Nanny.) At some point they
finally name the baby Daisy, and as a toddler, Daisy has a
penchant for running in front of buses; or for lying,
depressed, in piles of laundry. We hear an alarming essay
Daisy has written in school, and the principal, the
terrifying Miss Willoughby, is oblivious to the essay’s cry
for help, and instead gleefully awards it an A for style.
Finally, we meet Daisy – dressed as a girl, but otherwise a
polite, confused young man. In a “jump cut” sort of scene,
we follow his years and years of therapy, where he
alternates feeling depressed and angry, and is unable to
complete his Freshman essay on Gulliver’s Travels for
over 5 years. In the end the play comes full circle as the
former Daisy and his young bride fondly regard their own
baby—forgiving of the past but determined not to repeat its
calamitous mistakes.
Cast: 2 men and 3 women
(some women's roles consist of several small roles).
March 2008
Moon Over Buffalo by
Ken Ludwig In the madcap comedy tradition of Lend me a Tenor, the
hilarious Moon Over Buffalo centers on George and Charlotte
Hay, fading stars of the 1950's. At the moment, they’re
playing Private Lives and Cyrano De Bergerac in rep in
Buffalo, New York with 5 actors. On the brink of a
disastrous split-up caused by George’s dalliance with a
young ingénue, they receive word that they might just have
one last shot at stardom: Frank Capra is coming to town to
see their matinee, and if he likes what he sees, he might cast
them in his movie remake of The Scarlet Pimpernel.
Unfortunately for George and Charlotte, everything that
could go wrong does go wrong, abetted by a visit from their
daughter’s clueless fiancé and hilarious uncertainty about
which play they’re actually performing, caused by
Charlotte’s deaf old stage-manager mother who hates every
bone in George’s body.
Cast: 4 men and 4 women.
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