Comedies open ESU Theatre season

The 2009-2010 season of plays for ESU Theatre opens September 22 with a pair of one-act comedies. Texas playwright James McClure wrote "Laundry and Bourbon" and "Lone Star" as companion pieces. The plays are set on a hot summer's day in the town of Maynard, Tex., in 1975. These tales of husbands, wives, war, love and honor are both hysterically funny and surprisingly relevant. Both plays are rated PG for strong language and situations.

Lone Star, presented initially by the Actors Theatre of Louisville, and then produced successfully on Broadway, is a hilarious study of a pair of Texas "good ole boys" on a Saturday night spree behind Angel’s Bar in Maynard. Lone Star refers to the beer that Roy (Bob Hart, senior, Overland Park), a returning Viet Nam vet, and his younger brother Ray (Chris Lohkamp, senior, Wichita), drink every night in the back of Angel’s bar. Roy loves three things: this country, his beautiful wife Elizabeth, and his pink 1959 Thunderbird convertible - not necessarily in that order. With the arrival of Cletis (Ryan Scully, junior, Winchester), the foolish, newlywed son of the local hardware store owner, the underpinnings of Roy's world begin to collapse. Still, the high good humor of the play never lapses, and all ends as breezily and happily as it began.

In Laundry & Bourbon, we visit Elizabeth's back porch in Maynard on a hot summer afternoon. Elizabeth (Brianne Simon, senior, Rosalie) and her friend Hattie (Lindsay Ward, sophomore, Gardner) are whiling away the time gossiping, folding laundry, watching TV and sipping bourbon and coke. When the self-righteous Amy Lee (Natalie King, freshman, Wichita) stops by, the bourbon flows and the laundry flies. From it emerges a sense of Elizabeth's inner strength and her quiet understanding of the turmoil that has beset her husband since his return from Viet Nam.

The New York Post said about the original production: "Mr. McClure’s strongest suit is dialogue – salty, comic banter that derives from colorful indigenous characters."

Gabe Moyer (senior, Olathe) is directing Lone Star and faculty member Nancy Pontius directs Laundry and Bourbon. The set designer is senior Ben Williams (Elbing). The costume designer is Lindsay Roland (senior, Grand Island, Neb.); lighting design by Naoko Ishizuka (senior, Chiba, Japan); and sound design by Jeremiah Devine (senior, Hutchinson). Levi Howe (senior, Columbus, Neb.) is the production stage manager and Laura Dossett (sophomore, Jenks, Okla.) is the assistant stage manager.

Lone Star & Laundry and Bourbon will be presented in the Ronald Q. Fredrickson Theatre September 22- 27 at 7:30 p.m. A matinee performance is scheduled for September 27 at 2 p.m. Tickets are available from the university box office at (620) 341-6378 or toll-free at (877) 341-6378.

Last Updated September 11, 2009>