New Work Reading

I've been so nutsy-busy I haven't gotten to do much with this year's New Works Festival at Kitchen Dog Theater.  (Bad dog!)  But I did get to the reading for last night's Exit, Pursued by a Bear.  This play by Lauren Gunderson was hilarious!  About a serious issue - domestic abuse - it was nevertheless very very funny.  And quotable: the best line I remember (others flew by too fast) was the wife, hoping her unborn child is a boy because, "My goal is to repopulate the world with gentlemen."

If you've never been to the reading of a new work - go!  It is exciting to hear new material and to see actors grapple with it raw; there's a special camaraderie to audience and cast; and it's fascinating to see how a text works, stripped of "production values" like costumes and set (did I say that?).  For this piece I kinda vote don't ever give it a set - not a realistic one - because the mental pictures evoked by read descriptions and stage directions are funnier than reality is likely to be.  Loved it.

Still a few performances of Ponzi left - go see a new play!