Posted on November 1, 2021
| 7:33 p.m.
George Sullivan, Lexie Brent and Jackie Shearn perform in SBCC Theatre Arts Department’s production of ‘Laughing With Durang.‘
(Ben Crop)
SBCC Theatre Arts Department will present a student showcase of Christopher Durang plays called “Laughing With Durang,” Nov. 10-20 in the Jurkowitz Theatre. The show is directed by Matt Talbott.
Durang’s blend of humor and quirkiness will be on display in the featured plays: “Medea,” “Funeral Parlor,” “For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls, ” “The Doctor Will See You Now,” and “Wanda’s Visit.”
In “Wanda’s Visit,” Jim and Marsha have been married for 13 years and are feeling a little bored and unhappy. Wanda, Jim’s old girlfriend, shows up for a visit and becomes the guest from hell. Out one night for dinner, chaos breaks out in the restaurant as a waiter tries to cope on his first day with the confused threesome.
“Medea” is a sketch co-authored by Durang and Wendy Wasserstein. “Medea” and her chorus of three women try to figure out if it’s appropriate to kill your children to punish your husband. Jason shows up; so does a messenger with news of Lady Teazle; and a Deus ex Machina comes down from the sky to cheer everybody up.
In “Funeral Parlor,” a widow is accosted at her husband’s funeral by a very inappropriate guest.
“For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls” is a parody of “The Glass Menagerie,” in which the fading Southern belle Amanda tries to prepare her hyper-sensitive, hypochondriacal son Lawrence for “the feminine caller.” Terrified of people, Lawrence plays with his collection of glass cocktail stirrers.
Ginny, the feminine caller, who has a partial hearing loss, is overbearingly friendly. Brother Tom wants to go the movies, where he keeps meeting sailors who need to be put up in his room. Amanda tries to face everything with “charm and vivacity,” but sometimes she just wants to hit somebody.
In “The Doctor Will See You Now,” a raucous Woman Singer, dressed in sequins and boa, keeps bursting into noisy song in a doctor’s office. Wilson is there to see the doctor about an allergy, but the doctor and his nurse insist he has a venereal disease and should call up everyone he knows.
“Laughing With Durang” features Riley Barker, Sydney Bascom, Aurore Bernard, Lexie Brent, Kristina Clark, Liz Gates, Mario Guerrero, James Hanasz, Isaac Hernandez, Abbie Mintz, Stevie O’Donnell, Amanda Russell, Jackie Shearn, Sue Smiley, George Sullivan, Lizzy Urwick and Tyler Witucki.
Tickets are $18 general; $15 seniors and SBCC staff; $10 students, and can be purchased online at www.theatregroupsbcc.com or by calling the box office, 805-965-5935.
Note: The shows contain adult language and content.
To keep everyone safe, the current COVID-19 protocol is: Masks required inside the theater and building at all times, presentation of proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of the performance upon arrival.
