English Alternative Theatre will present six scripts that poke fun at the theater and theatrical masterpieces.
The Hardy Boys go to Nurse Ratched to solve the mystery of where babies come from?
It could happen only in one of Christopher Durang's witty spoofs.
The Hardy Boys, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "The Glass Menagerie," "Street Car Named Desire" and "Medea" are all easy targets for Durang's pen -- and consequently, sure-fire laugh-getters as staged readings by English Alternative Theatre.
About 25 KU students, English faculty members and community actor-theater lovers will bring literary spoofs written by Durang, Eric Bogosian and Wendy Wasserstein to life in "Parodies Lost: Spoofs for the Thinking Man" at 8 p.m. Monday at Swarthout Recital Hall in Murphy Hall.
"It's wonderful to begin the year with a few giggles " before getting serious," Lim, a KU associate professor of English who will direct the readings, said. "Christopher Durang is a brilliant comedic writer with a devilish wit. He's adapted with a joking but loving attitude toward the masterpieces and allows us to laugh at the worlds created by Tennessee Williams, Euripides, Eugene O'Neil and Shakespeare."
The two hour's worth of staged readings will include "Mrs. Sorken," by Durang, a monologue about the world of theater and the origin of the word "drama"; "Bitter Sauce," by Bogosian, based on one of Shakespeare's sonnets; "For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls," by Durang, a takeoff on "The Glass Menagerie"; "The Hardy Boys & the Mystery of Where Babies Come From," by Durang; "Desire, Desire, Desire," by Durang, a spoof of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "A Streetcar Named Desire"; and "Medea," by Durang and Wasserstein, a parody of the Greek tragedy by Euripides.
"For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls" incorporates some gender bending: Laura has become Lawrence. The menagerie of glass animals is now a collection of glass cocktail stirrers. At the insistence of their mother, Tom brings home a female factory worker as a suitor for brother Lawrence.
"The Hardy Boys "" makes fun of the innocence and enthusiasm of the young storybook-turned-TV-series sleuths.
"They are constantly changing sweaters throughout the play," William Carpenter, who plays Frank Hardy, said.
Carpenter, who participated in last fall's staging of "The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde" and EAT's full production of "April in Akron" last spring, said the staged readings provide an opportunity for the English faculty to work together on something other than academics.
"This is the largest cast I've ever dealt with," Lim said. "In the past we've had as many of 15 faculty (in the staged reading)."
The cast will have three rehearsals prior to the performance and will deliver their lines with script in hand.
"Many in the department and in the community who love theater can't commit to a full rehearsal process so staged readings allow these aficionados to participate and get a flavor of a full production without the time commitment," Lim said.
Carpenter, a graduate teaching assistant, said the staged readings are also popular for a couple of other reasons.
"Paul Lim is a great part of it. People like working with him," he said. "And the audiences are very forgiving. They're looking for a good time, too."
-- Jan Biles' phone message number is 832-7146. Her e-mail address is jbiles@ljworld.com.
SPOOFING THE CLASSICS What: "Parodies Lost: Spoofs for the Thinking Man," staged readings by English Alternative Theatre. When: 8 p.m. Monday. Where: Swarthout Recital Hall, Murphy Hall. Admission: Free. |
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