Dylan Olive
The Southern Editor
The theatre department’s first play of the year is “Unnecessary Farce,” which has just entered its second weekend of shows at Loca Lee Buckner Theatre.
The play runs tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m., and a sunday matinee show at 2:30 p.m. closes the show run. The farce – a highly over-the-top, absurd and far-fetched comedy – was written by Paul Slade Smith and involves two undercover cops in a motel room trying to record a thieving mayor’s interview with his accountant in the motel room next door.
The show moves with heightened stakes that continue to rise as the show progresses. Through fast-paced dialogue, constant door-slamming, mistaken identities and physical comedy, the play is bound to leave audience members laughing their heads off. The timing and delivery of the cast’s various comedic bits resembles that of a sit-com, especially with the ridiculous-ness that emerges amongst the characters’ growing chaos.
Made up of a seven-person cast, senior musical theatre major Jacob Little and senior musical theatre/psychology double major Lily Brewster play the roles of the two undercover cops, Eric Sheridan and Billie Dwyer. Junior technical theatre major August Hartlieb plays Todd, a Scottish bagpiper with a thick accent, full of surprises.
“The show is more of a contemporary farce than we’ve done in the last few years, and that’s reflected in the dialogue and style of the show,” Little said. “It also has a ton of physical comedy and tricks. I have been ending runs feeling like I’ve run a marathon… our director had told us a farce is unforgiving, and oh boy was he right.”
Sophore musical theatre major Chelsea Campbell plays the mayor’s accountant, Karen Brown, and junior theatre performance major Nathan Bell plays Mayor Meekly. Senior theatre arts/business administration double major Jadyn Koneski plays Mary Meekly, the mayor’s wife. Shane Boucher, senior musical theatre major, plays the mayor’s personal security officer, agent Frank.
“The characters I have played in the past were my age, 18-20 years old, and playing someone much older was a shift I had to find throughout the process,” Campbell said. “The cast size is also smaller, so I feel I got the privilege to be more intimate with my castmates and really get to know them.”
Director Lawrence Lesher is an FSC alum returning for his third consecutive year to direct – this show is his first post-grad directorial debut on the Buckner stage, having directed once as a student 30 years ago. His previous two shows – “The Liar” in fall 2022 and “Tom Jones” the year prior – were performed in Frank Lloyd Wright Theatre-in-the-Round.
Both shows are farces, but contrasting to “Unnecessary Farce,” they are period pieces set in a variety of locations rather than a contemporary show contained by one location in a standard set. This show is drastically different, relying on mechanics and precision from the cast, and there is a bigger focus on the technical side as well, according to Lesher.
“The vast majority of how I direct comes from the thousands of plays I have watched,” Lesher said. “I have honed an idea of what works and what doesn’t, It’s really just strongly held opinions smattered with a dose of theory. I definitely pull from the work of Monty Python, Carol Burnett, Mel Brooks and other shows I watched as a kid… it’s safe to say there’s more than a little bit of Looney Tunes and Three Stooges lurking in my brain.”
Theatre faculty direct the department’s five official shows per academic school year with the exception of Lesher, who “hopes to continue this relationship with my alma mater” because he enjoys working among “a new generation of theatre pros.”
There are other integral creative members on the technical side. Jenna Fisher is the stage manager, Zie Wilhelm is the scenic designer, Ben Bratton is the lighting designer, Luis Antonio M. Guzman Galdos is the sound designer, Emma Rodriguez is the costume designer and Liam Parke is the props master.
There are trigger warnings to be aware of: prop guns, sexual content and comedic violence. Upcoming theatre department productions include “A Tuna Christmas” in Frank Lloyd Wright Theatre-in-the-Round and “The Addams Family” in Loca Lee Buckner
