Expect dysfunction. Along with outrageous plot twists, and comedic explorations of sexuality and/or sexual identity.
Three plays, ostensibly comedies, will run more or less simultaneously at downtown Columbia’s three main not-for-profit theaters — Workshop, Trustus and Town theatres. Each is penned by an acknowledged master of stage mirth, and each holds special significance for the presenting organization.
Trustus Theatre's "Exit, Pursued By A Bear"
First up is the provocatively titled “Exit, Pursued By A Bear,” opening Jan. 18 in the black box-style. Trustus Side Door Theatre Author Lauren Gunderson’s revenge fantasy is described in press material as a comedy with “emotional trials and ridiculous theatrics,” yet Executive Director Jessica Fichter conceded that its premise ventures into Absurdist territory: a mistreated wife imprisons her husband and forces him to relive scenes from their troubled past, as recreated by her BFFs — a stripper and a cheerleader — before leaving the errant spouse as prey for a ravenous bear. (Hence the title, which comes from a notorious stage direction in Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale.”)
“This is funny, and jarring at the same time,” Fichter promised.
Fichter said the play is farcical in the extremes to which the characters go, but is also “a scathing look at domestic violence and revenge.”
“It asks fundamental questions,” she said, “such as what is your right as a survivor of abuse?”
While not a household name yet, Gunderson has become one of America’s most widely produced (living) playwrights, with three plays staged locally in the last five years, including 2019’s “Miss Bennett: Christmas at Pemberley” at Trustus. Doing another work by the author has been a goal, Fichter explained; part of the theater’s programming strategy is to look at which playwrights’ works are being produced nationally, and why — especially at theaters with similar capacities and missions.
Directed by Ginny Ives, the 90-minute, one-act production features a cast of four: Liza Hunter, Isabella Stenz, Clint Poston and Bryent Taylor-Marshall.
Town Theatre's 'Moon Over Buffalo'
Town Theatre’s Executive Director Shannon Scruggs agreed that being aware of popular trends can lead to success.
“All you have to do is look across the country and see what’s being done,” she noted.
A promotional image for Town Theatre's "Moon Over Buffalo," playing Jan. 19-28, 2024. Photo provided
A lot of what's being done is fast-paced, traditional farce from the prolific, Tony Award-winning Ken Ludwig, whose 1995 work “Moon Over Buffalo” opens at Town on Friday Jan. 19.
The original Broadway run of nearly a year featured the return of Carol Burnett to the stage. Town previously mounted this backstage comedy in 1998 and 2009; returning from those iterations are director Allison McNeely and, in the Burnett role, Kathy Hartzog, a veteran of the title roles in everything from “Hello, Dolly!” to “Driving Miss Daisy.”
Scruggs referred to a recent survey, which found that 80 percent of the theater’s audience liked the current programming model, which is two or more musicals in a row followed by a smaller comedy.
"Moon Over Buffalo" has a shorter run — two weekends instead of the customary three or more. But it's appropriate for the winter, when “it’s colder, it’s not as easy for people to get out," Scruggs said. "Plus it’s not a musical, and we have done it before.”
Still, she expressed confidence that the needs of both season ticket-holders as well as newcomers will be accommodated, and that all will enjoy this traditional farce of mistaken identities and backstage antics.
Focusing on a 1950’s theatrical troupe embroiled in conflict and scandal, Scruggs said “it shows the crazy lives that we theater people live and accept. It’s a good opportunity to laugh at our silliness.”
Joining Hartzog are Town regulars Bill DeWitt, Zanna Mills, Allison Allgood and David LaTorre.
Workshop Theatre's "Sordid Lives"
For Workshop Theatre’s Executive Director Jeni McCaughan, the upcoming production of “Sordid Lives” — which also runs for two weekends only, Jan. 19 - 28 — has special significance.
“This was the first show I saw here, in 2006," McCaughan said. "And it’s the show that made me fall in love with Workshop Theatre.”
Already a fan of a 2000 film version of author Del Shores’ send-up of rural quirkiness and small-town prejudice, McCaughan came for an evening of light entertainment, but stayed on as a loyal volunteer and eventually leader.
“And I've never looked back,” she proudly stated.
When director Crystal Aldamuy told McCaughan she was open to directing anything that the latter felt would be a good fit, McCaughan realized that the time was ripe for a revival of "Sordid Lives." Like the other theaters, Workshop and its regular volunteers benefit from a straight comedy with simpler sets and a smaller cast scheduled in between big musicals.
A promotional image for Workshop Theatre's "Sordid Lives," running Jan. 19-28, 2024. Photo provided
Author Shores has found popular success with broad parodies of rural Americana, including “Southern Baptist Sissies” and a tv series version of “Sordid Lives,”' which ran on the LGBTQ-friendly LOGO channel in 2008.
“It’s a full-on comedy,” McCaughan said, “but with lots of heavy situations.”
Allusions to racism, homophobia and mental illness anchor the show, but McCaughan promised the heavier topics are explored “in comedic fashion.”
“Some of it you laugh at, even if there are uncomfortable situations,” McCaughan explained. “We want our audience to remember that this is set in Texas in the ‘90’s. People will be able to say ‘That’s my uncle, that’s my aunt,’"
Recognizing familiar types from a less-tolerant recent past provides fertile ground for satire.
“We’re calling it a black comedy about White trash,” Workshop's exec. director quipped.
Included in the cast are familiar Workshop faces such as Frank Thompson, George Dinsmore, Ripley Thames, Lou Boeschen, Beth DeHart, Marshall Spann, Lonetta Thompson and Katie Mixon, who was voted Columbia’s Best Actress by readers of the Free Times in 2023.
