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Theatre & Box Office Articles Review |
Reprinted with permission of The Times of Northwest Indiana. Uncontrollable Laughter BY TIM SHELLBERG Making an audience laugh is not all fun and games to Traci Brant, co-director of Valparaiso's Community Theatre Guild's production of Steve Martin's "The Underpants." "Doing a comedy, it has to be so tight," she said. "What looks like so much good times and loose deliveries by actors, even in movies, has to be so tightly rehearsed. And in 'The Underpants,' it takes a real sensibility about the timing of the play and the pace of the scene." Opening today and running through Oct. 22, "Underpants" tells the story of Louise, a housewife whose undergarments are unintentionally revealed for the masses to see at a royal parade. Louise becomes a celebrity instantly following her mishap, and she, along with her husband, Theo, must endure no small amount of fallout as a result. Martin, who found his first success as a stage writer in the '90s with "Picasso at the Lapin Agile," adapted "Underpants" from early 20th-century German playwright Carl Sternheim's 1911 play "Die Hose." Martin's adaptation made its debut off-Broadway by New York's Classic Stage Company in 2002. Having brought "Picasso" to the Chicago Theatre Stage in the past, the Community Theatre Guild, Brant said, was looking forward to the chance to try Martin's "Underpants" on for size when it was made available. "It's a hilarious comedy about someone's 15 minutes of fame," Brandt said. "While it's still set in the turn of the (20th) century, it still feels very modern in its sensibilities because it's Steve Martin and he has his own little flair to the play. The humor is just great." Starring as Louise and Theo, respectively, are Patty Bird and Andy Urshel, both of Valparaiso. They are supported onstage by Dan Matern of Chesterton, Stephany Mullen, Dennis Dickson and John Evans, all of Valparaiso, and Rensselaer's Fred Margison. "Our actors are hilarious, and rehearsal has been a hoot every night," she said. "I just go down (to the theater) and laugh. It's just been so fantastic to have that escape and laugh my butt off every night, (but there's a) fear that when you deliver lines that are clearly supposed to be funny (you worry that) they'll fall dead. And until an audience becomes a part of the mix, we actually won't know that." Next up for Community Theatre Guild is its production of the holiday favorite "A Christmas Story," which is scheduled to open Nov. 25 at Chicago Street Theatre. "The Underpants" is running at 8 tonight, Saturday, Oct. 14, 15, 20-22 and at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 16. onstage |
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