photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Members of the cast and an audience volunteer run through a scene from "Napoleon's Dynamite Musical Parody" on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, at the Lawrence Arts Center.

Any fan of “Napoleon Dynamite” can recall all its cringeworthy moments – the Happy Hands Club, the terrible drawings, “Bust Must”…

But what if you weren’t just sympathizing with the characters – what if you were actually there?

Well, in “Napoleon’s Dynamite Musical Parody,” which opens next weekend at the Lawrence Arts Center, you yourself might get invited to the high school dance, or a stiff portrait sitting, or a Rex Kwon Do class. You might even have sleazy Uncle Rico coming out into the audience to hawk some Tupperware to you.

That’s right – it’s a spin on “Napoleon Dynamite” with audience participation bits, where you get to savor the awkwardness right alongside the actors.

“I’m very excited for a few of my friends, who I think will actually like to participate,” said Alex Bellavia, who plays the geeky high school misfit Napoleon. “And my grandparents, I’m like, ‘You’re not going to like this, but thank you for coming.'”

The show, written by Kansas City playwrights Layne Roate and Luke “Skippy” Harbur, will take over the Arts Center stage Nov. 6 and 7. It doesn’t lean into the “musical” aspect that heavily – expect the songs from the 2004 cult classic’s soundtrack, just with the characters singing along. But it does riff on the movie, at least as much as you can parody something that’s already so self-conscious.

It also has a tiny cast – a half-dozen actors and one role that’s “played” by an inflatable doll. All of the live actors are double-cast, and in roles that show off completely different personalities – like Devyn Ridings, who plays Deb, the shy girl who gradually becomes friends with Napoleon, and Napoleon’s brusque, quad-biking grandmother.

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Ray Keady helps Tricia, played by an inflatable doll, down the stairs during a scene from “Napoleon’s Dynamite Musical Parody” on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, at the Lawrence Arts Center.

“As much as it is ‘Napoleon Dynamite,’ it’s also a spin on it, so there’s new stuff in the script and lots of things to play with,” Ridings said. One of her favorite changes is to “the iconic ‘fat milk’ line” in the film, when Napoleon asks Deb if she’s drinking 1% milk “because you think you’re fat.” The show milks this exchange as much as it possibly can: “It elongates the joke so much that you’re like, ‘OK, is he going to stop talking?'”

Ridings has loved the film for years – her dad likes “these weird movies, stoic comedies,” and her family would always watch them together, and “Napoleon Dynamite” was one of their favorites.

“I was very young when I watched this for the first time,” she said. “… When I saw there was a casting call for it, I got really excited.”

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Alex Bellavia, left, as Napoleon, and Ray Keady, as Kip, rehearse a scene from “Napoleon’s Dynamite Musical Parody” on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, at the Lawrence Arts Center.

Ray Keady, who plays Napoleon’s brother Kip, didn’t watch “Napoleon Dynamite” until his junior year of high school, but he and his friends would quote from it all the time before he’d even seen it — “Tina, you fat lard, come get some dinner!”

And Tony Ontiveros, who plays both the martial arts instructor Rex and the Mexican American transfer student Pedro, remembers back in high school when people would make nonsensical “your mom” jokes like Napoleon’s “Your mom goes to college!” They’d be sitting in history class learning about the Enlightenment or something, he said, and someone would say, “Your mom’s enlightened!”

Ontiveros is a longtime fan of the movie. He said he saw it on a whim when it came out, because he was intrigued by the poster and the tagline: “He’s out to prove he’s got nothing to prove.” He had no idea what to expect, but he found a bunch of characters that “really spoke to me” – especially Pedro.

“Being Mexican American myself, I saw Pedro’s introduction was not the most glamorous, and I was like, ‘Oh, gosh, OK,'” Ontiveros said. But he was pleasantly surprised to see that so much of the movie was really about Pedro, as he runs against and defeats the popular girl, Summer, in the election for class president. “He went from almost like a stereotype to a more prominent character,” he said.

Ontiveros sees Pedro as someone who has “all these thoughts and hopes and dreams” that he can’t always express in the way he wants to, like in his campaign speech in the film, which he opens by saying, “I don’t have much to say.”

But in the play, he gives an impassioned oration in his native Spanish before making his famous promise that “if you vote for me, all your wildest dreams will come true.” He talks about how important the election is to him, and how much he wants to show that immigrants can make a change in society for the better, Ontiveros said.

“It’s a really touching moment,” he said.

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Tony Ontiveros, as Pedro, center, rehearses a scene from “Napoleon’s Dynamite Musical Parody” on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, at the Lawrence Arts Center.

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Alex Bellavia, as Napoleon, practices chugging with the audience during a rehearsal of “Napoleon’s Dynamite Musical Parody” on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, at the Lawrence Arts Center.

On the other hand, the star of the show hasn’t even finished the movie. Bellavia intentionally avoided watching it before auditioning, and instead just asked a friend who had seen it what Napoleon sounded like. “She was like, ‘Oh, just kind of, like, breathy.'”

Since then, Bellavia has tried to watch the film, but, “I got halfway through it and was like, ‘Oh, I’m too tired.'”

Sounds almost like something Napoleon himself would say.

“Very lackadaisical,” Bellavia said.

And Adrian Brothers, who plays Uncle Rico and Tina the llama, had watched “Napoleon Dynamite” before but didn’t really get it. He was still a kid, and a lot went over his head.

He knew a guy in high school who “basically turned the movie into his personality.” He also saw the original Pedro, Efren Ramirez, at the Oscars in 2004 or 2005, when he was part of a school choir that was invited to perform at the awards show alongside Beyonce. Near the red carpet, Ramirez turned to the choir kids and shouted, “Vote for Pedro!” and one of his friends “was freaking out,” screaming “Oh my God! That’s PEDRO!”

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Adrian Brothers, as Uncle Rico, tries out his Tupperware sales pitch on a couple of audience members at a rehearsal of “Napoleon’s Dynamite Musical Parody” on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, at the Lawrence Arts Center.

But when Brothers auditioned for this show, “I’m reading the script, and I’m like, ‘Oh! There’s a lot more stuff that makes a lot more sense now, that’s a lot more funny now,” now that there’s some distance from his awkward teenage years.

“You look back at these things and you kind of go, ‘What the heck were we all so worried over?'” Brothers said. “It seemed so important at the time.”

He thinks the show will be a reminder for people to celebrate that time in their lives in a healthy way – not putting tapes of it on repeat like Uncle Rico, but not cringing at it or forgetting about it, either.

“That’s kind of the joy of the show,” Brothers said. “It’s like, man, it’s a weird time, but just enjoy it while it’s there.”

“Napoleon’s Dynamite Musical Parody” will be performed at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, and at 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, at the Lawrence Arts Center. Tickets are available at lawrenceartscenter.org. You can also enter a raffle online for a sculpture by Arts Center Executive Director Ben Ahlvers of a liger, (which, per Napoleon, is a lion and a tiger mixed, bred for its skills in magic).

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Alex Bellavia, as Napoleon, shows off some dance moves during a rehearsal of “Napoleon’s Dynamite Musical Parody” on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, at the Lawrence Arts Center.

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Tony Ontiveros, as Rex, rehearses a scene from “Napoleon’s Dynamite Musical Parody” on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, at the Lawrence Arts Center.

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

From top to bottom, Devyn Ridings, Alex Bellavia and Lily Stewart rehearse a scene from “Napoleon’s Dynamite Musical Parody” on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, at the Lawrence Arts Center.

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Justin Harbaugh, the Lawrence Arts Center’s director of performing arts, dances with an inflatable doll during a rehearsal of “Napoleon’s Dynamite Musical Parody” on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, at the Lawrence Arts Center.