Backstage at CPAC

2012-2013 BACKSTAGE SEASON CLOSED

2013-2014 SEASON TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON!

Backstage productions are selected especially for presentation in the intimacy of the backstage theatre setting...playgoers are seated on stage where the action is...near enough to hear every word, every sigh...to see every comical expression and gesture...to feel part of every scene. The staging and seating arrangements change with every BACKSTAGE show.

This season past:

August 24, 25, 28, 30, 31, September 1
7:30 p.m.
produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

THE STORIES: This hilarious collection of short plays is a comical look at relationships from childhood to old age. Some are charming and light, others dark and absurdist, but all eight gleefully portray people at their worst. And sometimes their best.
CLASS CONFLICT. Billy is a shy, sweet six-year old, nervous about his first day of school. His new classmate Megan Devenaux is a pint-sized lawyer, who considers herself an adult already, and is ready to take her case to the Supreme Court and then cash in.
ON THE EDGE. There's a party inside, but Gene, seventeen, stands on the ledge of an apartment building. Distraught because the girl he loves is making out with someone, Gene is ready to jump. Sammy, a classmate, discovers Gene on the ledge, but, seemingly unconcerned, mocks him for being melodramatic. But as Sammy realizes Gene's pain runs deeper than a girl, will she pull Gene back from the edge? Or push him over?
WHATEVER. This sly riff on Poe's "The Raven" finds Jessica hallucinating that a talking pigeon has flown into her apartment. Her friend Liz tries to talk her down, but eventually realizes Jessica isn't suffering from a combination of too much wine and Benedryl but from her inability to let go of a relationship that has ended.
DOUBLE WEDDING. Deborah is more than a little nervous on her wedding day. Her parents' constant chatter isn't helping. And neither is Deborah's reflection in the mirror, which keeps shouting out her darkest thoughts and worries. Can Deborah calm her fears before her alter ego literally steps through the looking glass and ruins things?
INFANT MORALITY. Trish is at the front desk of a hospital when Stephanie comes in carrying a shopping bag from an expensive store. She has something to return. Trish doesn't understand until she looks in the bag and sees a baby. Trish is staggered, but Stephanie can't understand what the problem is. Things get even stranger before the resolution of this black comedy.
A MOTHER'S LOVE. In a darkly comic monologue, Melissa calmly explains her reasons for taking a parent's natural desire to protect her child a little too far.
THE AMERICAN DREAM REVISITED. The American dream is alive and well—if a little twisted—in this absurdist comedy. Somewhere out in a southwestern desert, Jim and Della and their daughter, Chartreuse, decide to ditch Grandpa and leave him there to die. They expect to inherit his money, making their own lives so much more pleasant, but Grandpa has a few tricks up his sleeve. Will anyone get out of this alive?
THE LAST DECEMBER. An elderly couple sit at home on a cold winter's night. The old man wants to finish watching his football game, but his wife is trying to get him ready to go out on some errand. The man is angry and bitter, and he clearly doesn't want to go. His patient wife listens but gently prods. But there's more to the old man than meets the eye, and the play ends with surprising sweetness and love.

_____________________________________________________

WHY TORTURE IS WRONG AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM
by Christopher Durang
directed by Kim Frick-Welker
January 25, 26, 27, 29, 31, February 1
7:30 p.m.
produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

THE STORY: Christopher Durang turns political humor upside down with this raucous and provocative satire about America's growing homeland "insecurity." WHY TORTURE IS WRONG, AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM tells the story of a young woman suddenly in crisis: Is her new husband, whom she married when drunk, a terrorist? Or just crazy? Or both? Is her father's hobby of butterfly collecting really a cover for his involvement in a shadow government? Why does her mother enjoy going to the theatre so much? Does she seek mental escape, or is she insane? Honing in on our private terrors both at home and abroad, Durang oddly relieves our fears in this black comedy for an era of yellow, orange and red alerts.

THE CAST:

Felicity…………….……..……………Kate Breidert

Zamir…………………….….…..…Matthew Wilson

Luella…………………….…….Beverly Hedgepeth

Leonard………………………….………….Pat Frank

Reverend Mike…………………..Brent Fleshman

Hildegarde……………………………….Tracy Clark

Looney Tunes…………………………….Josh Rapp

Voice/Narrator……………………...Heather Frick

Maitre d’ ………………………………..Tyler Martin

__________________________________________________________

by Yasmina Reza
translated by Christopher Hampton
directed by Steven W. Gwilt
February 22, 23, 26, 28, March 1, 2
7:30 p.m.
produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

THE STORY: A playground altercation between eleven-year-old boys brings together two sets of Brooklyn parents for a meeting to resolve the matter. At first, diplomatic niceties are observed, but as the meeting progresses, and the rum flows, tensions emerge and the gloves come off, leaving the couples with more than just their liberal principles in tatters.

THE CAST:
Veronica Novak-Kristy Conley
Michael Novak-Michael Gilpatrick
Annette Raleigh-Eleni Fragopoulos
Alan Raleigh-Tony Craighead

 GOD of CARNAGE contains adult language and is not suitable for children