The Over Our Head Players revive their holiday classic, The Eight: Reindeer Monologues starting tonight with the first of four shows over the next two weekends.
Rick Ditter directs the "R-rated" performance, which is returning to the local stage on the 10-year anniversary of its last run.
Written by Jeff Goode, the Reindeer Monlogues described as a "wickedly funny alternative to traditional candy-cane cheer." Here's a plot summary:
Scandal erupts at the North Pole when one of Santa's eight tiny reindeer makes a shocking accusation. As the media descend upon the event, the other members of the sleigh team demand to share their perspectives. A horrific tale of corruption and perversion emerges, implicating everyone from the littlest elf to the tainted Saint himself. As each of the airborne eight shares their thoughts on the holidays, each other, and life with Santa, the truth behind the shocking allegations becomes clearer ... and murkier.
The cast includes: Barbara Akey, Michael Becker, Colleen Burkhart, Nicholas Hoyt, Brianna Hubbard, Brad Kostreva, Daniel Myers and Joseph Piirto.
Production staff includes: Joseph Piirto, Diane Carlson, Melissa Fleischman, Ron Schulz, Jerry Horton, Tom Spraker and Janine Anderson.
Showtimes are 8 p.m. on Dec. 11 (tonight); 5:30 and 8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 12; 8 p.m. on Dec. 18 and 5:30 and 8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 19.
Tickets are $15 and are available by calling the box office at (262) 632-6802. 262-632-680226262-632-68022-632-6802
You're handed complimentary tissue when you take your seat for the Over Our Head Players' emotionally charged show, "Rabbit Hole." At intermission, more Kleenex are passed out.
But while tears may flow during David Lindsay-Abaire's Pulitzer-Prize winning play about a family dealing with the death of a child, director Patti Fitchett said the show is hardly wrenching.
"They're the kind of tears that are cathartic," she said. "It's not an unpleasant experience. The show is not tragic by any means. It's the universality of the emotion that brings the tears."
Fitchett described the play as a warm, tender and real look at the absurd things people way when tragedy strikes someone else. "Like platitudes at a funeral," she said. "The script really discusses those, and the reaction to those things."
Jennifer Kostreva leads a cast of five that also includes: Jennifer Nordstrom, Joe Krapf, Alice Anne Conner, and Patrick Schneider. Kathy Honigmann assistant directs; Rich Smith production manages, and Stephanie Dresen stage manages. The staff includes Joseph Piirto, Donna Nielsen, Maddie Braun, Ron Schulz, Diane Carlson, Jerry Horton, Tom Spraker, and Janine Anderson.
Fitchett said "Rabbit Hole," which is something of a departure for the typically comedy-minded OOHPs, was well suited to Kostreva's refined talents.
"This casts her in a way that was commensurate with her experience," Fitchett said. "Sometimes Snowdance isn't the best vehicle. She is much better used in this show than she's been utilized in the past."
"Rabbit Hole" is the sixth play Fitchett, of Kenosha, has directed for OOHP over the last 13 years. Fitchett said she lobbied to helm show.
"After I first read script I went to the board, begged them to direct," she said. "I loved it so much."
Fitchett proved a good fit, in part, because she had experience with Lindsay-Abaire's work. She had previously directed his play, "Wonder of the World," for the OOHPs.
She also brought a personal depth to the show. Several years ago her son became seriously ill and she and her husband were confronted with the possibility of losing a child. The boy, who was 3 at the time, is now a healthy teenager. But the experience forced Fitchett to confront many of the same emotions as the characters in the play.
"We were at the point of, 'What would you do if the unthinkable happens and we lost this child?" she said.
Lindsay-Abaire's play pushes the characters over that ledge and explores their life after the tragedy. Here's OOHP's description of the show:
A successful suburban couple must pick up the pieces after devastating tragedy tests their marriage: the Corbetts have everything a family could want, until a life-shattering accident leaves them drifting perilously apart. Rabbit Hole charts their bittersweet search for comfort, exploring life after tragedy. Their story is told through daily moments and emotional hurdles hiding in routines. The drama is in the haunting details, capturing "the awkwardness and pain of thinking people faced with an unthinkable situation - and eventually, their capacity for survival, and even hope.
The show was first performed in New York City in 2006 and featured a cast that included "Sex in the City's" Cynthia Nixon. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 and was also nominated for a Tony award.
"Rabbit Hole" opened at the Sixth Street Theatre last weekend. It continues with eight more shows over the next two weekends, including Friday nights at 8 p.m. and Saturdays at 5:30 and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets are $12 or $15 and are available by calling (262) 632-6802.
The Over Our Head Players' performance of Eric Bogosian's "Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll" opens Friday night at Sixth Street Theatre, 318 Sixth St. in Racine.
When Joe Piirto was set to play Eric Bogosian's signature role in a production of "Talk Radio" at UW-Parkside, he emailed Bogosian himself for advice.
"It's going to be your character," the actor answered. "Make it your own."
That's no small task when it comes to Bogosian. Not only does the actor, now most famous for his role on CSI "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," bring a searing intensity to his roles, he wrote the plays for himself to star in.
But after early success in "Talk Radio" as an actor, Piirto is ready to take on the challenge again. The technical director for the Over Our Head Players at Sixth Street Theatre is directing Bogosian's "Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll" set to debut Friday night. The show is a pared down version of a one-man, 12-act show Bogosian wrote and starred in on Broadway in 1990. It features a series of sketches about life in the underworld of a major city.
Though it's 18 years old, many of the urban issues Bogosian was talking about back then are still relevant today, Piirto said.
"We found a lot of the topics he looks at are still plaguing us today," Piirto said. "We looks at the underbelly of man, especially the American man, from bums on the street to very successful attorneys and mob bosses."
Piirto took a few steps to make te play "his own." First, it's not a one-man show. (Bogosian wrote the original play as a vehicle to demonstrate his acting range, Piirto said.) He cast seven men and woman for a show. Second, it's shorter. Bogosian originally performed 12 sketches and wrote five additional "orphans" that were published along with the script. Piirto narrowed it down to six sketches and four orphans. Third, it should be funnier.
Bogosian is an aggressive, snide actor best known for intense monologues that are darkly funny. Piirto took it as a challenge to retain Bogosian's words, but lighten the mood around them.
"It was hard for me to reconcile with just beating our audience up with this stuff," he said. "... Without changing lines, we had to figure out how to bring the humor out."
"Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll" stars Zach Chacon, Chris Clausen, Joshua Devitt, Nick Hoyt, Daniel Myers, Jay Rattle, Brandy Harrell, and Jesse Silva. Harrell, who performs a monologue offstage, is the only woman in the cast.
Rehearsals have gone well, Piirto said. The cast came from a small audition - only one actor didn't get a part - but drew in talent perfect for the show, he said. Everyone came in with lines memorized on day one, which has given them time to develop characters and work on "audience interaction."
"I'm awed by them," Piirto said. "They carry the audience through a roller coaster ride. Hopefully at the end everyone is entertained and smiling."
Piirto, who moved to Racine when he was 5, described himself as a "minimalist" director who uses simple sets. "Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll" is a plain set with graffiti, from local artists, sprayed on the wall.
"The idea is you're in an alley somewhere in the city," Piirto said. "It speaks to the urban ideas most of the monologues contain."
Piirto graduated with theater degree from UW-Parkside eight years ago and now works as a freelance technical director and set designer for theaters throughout southeastern Wisconsin, including the Fireside Theatre in Fort Atkinson. He is the full-time resident technical director and set designer at the Sixth Street Theatre.
Prior to moving back to Racine, Piirto worked in Florida and in the Seattle area.
Along with Piirto, Matthew Rangel assistant directs and stage manages the show. The production staff includes Jenny Kostreva, Erik Piirto, Claudia Bruce, Bradford Ermel, Hans Michaelis, Taryn Fuhrman, Jerry Horton, and Tom Spraker.
"Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll" opens Friday at 8 p.m. and runs six shows over two weekends. The other dates include: Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2:30 p.m.; Aug. 7 and 8, 8 p.m., and Aug. 9, 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 on Fridays and Saturdays and $12 on Sundays.
For reservations, call the box office at (262) 632-6802. Sixth Street Theatres is located at 318 Sixth St.
Eric Bogosian in a classic monologue from "Talk Radio."
