2011 - 2012 Performance Season
November 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27, December 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 2011
Funny Money
by Ray Cooney
Directed by Marty Williams, Assistant Director
Never has this master of farce been frenetically funnier. Henry A. Perkins, a mild mannered CPA, accidently picks up the wrong briefcase, one full of money. Henry assumes it is illicit cash and he decides to keep it. Knowing that the former owner must have his briefcase, he rushes home to book one way fares to Barcelona. He tells his confused wife to leave everything behind; if she doesn't like Barcelona, they can go to Bali. In fact, they can buy Bali! The doorbell rings as they wait for their taxi. The police detective at the door thinks Henry was soliciting in the men's room of the local pub but actually, he was sitting in the loo counting the cash. The bell rings again. Another detective arrives thinking Henry is dead; a man with bullet holes in his head and Henry's briefcase were found in the Thames. Henry's inept attempts to extricate himself from this impossible situation lead to increasingly hysterical situations.
January 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29, February 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 2012
Murder Room
by Jack Sharkey
Directed by Cress Hewitt, Assistant Director Leah Johnson
Mavis and her lover plan to kill her wealthy new husband, Edgar Hollister, and seem to have succeeded quite quickly and all too easily, but have they? The arrival of Edgar's dotty daughter Susan, with fiance in tow, complicates everything as they try to solve the mystery of Edgar's disappearance. The interfering housekeeper fails to help as do the two bumbling members of the Harrogate Constabulary.
"Murder has never been this funny. A spoof of all crime thrillers ... it is good clean mirth all the way. The quick, smart, extremely well timed dialogue of Jack Sharkey comes through loud and clear [with] never a dull moment." Times
"There are secret chambers, secret panels and trap lids galore. They're all operated by the most ridiculous contrivances and gloriously mucked up.... A high, mad melodrama." Frank Harris.
"Delightful ... constant humor.... A good mixture of Agatha Christie, Monty Python, and Abbott and Costello!" Canon, Memphis.
March 23, 24, 25, 30, 31, April 1, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 2012
Footlight Frenzy
by Ron House, Diz White, Alan Shearman and Bud Slocumb
Co-Directed by Cress Hewitt and Leah Johnson
In a desperate attempt to save their bankrupt "School for Unusual Children", an inexperienced PTA group valiantly mounts an ambitious benefit play, written by a has-been Broadway director. Her near hysterical direction and the group's questionable talent turn the production into a shambles. The scenes shift back and forth from the real tribulations of the performers to the play they are "performing", and it is hard to tell which is sillier. This is fast and furious theatrical fun of the first order, with you watching the fun from the "back" of the stage!
May 25, 26, 27, June 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 2012
Who’s in Bed with the Butler
by Michael Parker
Directed by Larry Tesar
A California billionaire has bequeathed all of his assets to his only daughter Constance - except the 22-million-dollar yacht he wanted Josephine to have, a 25 million-dollar art collection left to Rene and some priceless antique automobiles willed to Marjorie. Constance arrives at her father's mansion with her lawyer, determined to find out who these women are and to buy them off or contest the will. The butler seems to hold the key and she learns from him that the three sultry ladies were her father's lovers. She also discovers that the yacht, the art and the cars have vanished, all having been sold to The Bimbo Corporation. Could the butler be behind the shenanigans - and is he carrying on with all of the ladies in question? Does the elderly, deaf housekeeper really have a pet rat? Can the bumbling detective hired by Constance really be so inept, linguistically as well as professionally? And why has the butler hired an actress to play his wife?
"Excellent physical comedy. Truly remarkable characters." - Woodland Daily Democrat
"For Parker, farce is serious business. You must see this romp." - The Sacramento Bee
July 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29 August 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 2012
Over the River and Through the Woods
by Joe DePietro
Directed by Marty Williams, Assistant Director Leah Johnson
Nick is a single, Italian-American guy from New Jersey. His parents retired and moved to Florida. That doesn't mean his family isn't still in Jersey. In fact, he sees both sets of his grandparents every Sunday for dinner. This is routine until he has to tell them that he's been offered a dream job. The job he's been waiting for—marketing executive—would take him away from his beloved, but annoying, grandparents. He tells them. The news doesn't sit so well. Thus begins a series of schemes to keep Nick around. How could he betray his family's love to move to Seattle, for a job, wonder his grandparents? Well, Frank, Aida, Nunzio and Emma do their level best, and that includes bringing to dinner the lovely—and single—Caitlin O'Hare as bait…we won't give the ending away here.
"A hilarious family comedy that is even funnier than his long-running musical revue I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. —BackStage. "Loaded with laughs every step of the way." —Star-Ledger.
September 28, 29, 30, October 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 2012
Tom, Dick and Harry
by Ray Cooney and Michael Cooney
Directed by Kimi Laabs
In this hilarious story of three brothers, Tom and his wife are about to adopt a baby. His brothers are anxious to help make a good impression on the woman from the agency who has arrived to check on the home and lifestyle of the prospective parents. Unfortunately Dick, who has stashed boxes of smuggled brandy and cigarettes in the house, and Harry, who is in possession of a cadaver he is planning to sell illegally to a medical school, fail miserably. The adoption agency representative is aghast - and the illegal Croatian aliens who do not speak English are no help at all!
"No wonder Cooney's farces attract packed audiences. Lovers of old-fashioned farce know they are going to have a good time. Tom, Dick and Harry, written by Cooney Senior and his son Michael shows that . . . the veteran funster's ingenuity for creating chaos and carnage is nowhere near drying up." - Windsor Express.