Will Rice Phoenix logo



Theatre Committee

Category:Fronts -> Committees -> Programs

Overview

Our committee promotes theatre at Will Rice and welcomes all sorts of people: actors, designers, technicians, stage managers, publicists, audience members, idea contributors, moral supporters, and just plain nice folk.

Announcements

The Will Rice Players are proud to present Paul Slade Smith’s outrageous comedy Unnecessary Farce!

Here’s a synopsis of the play (from http://www.unnecessaryfarce.com):

The setting is two adjoining rooms in an economy motel. It is early morning. Two inexperienced police officers, Eric Sheridan and Billie Dwyer, have been sent to videotape a meeting between the local Mayor and the town’s accountant, with the aim of uncovering an embezzlement scheme. But the day is not starting off well.

Billie has been spotted by the Mayor in the motel lobby. And Eric and the accountant, Karen Brown, have just spent the night together, a fact they’re trying to keep secret. But when they start going at it again in Karen’s room, just as Billie – in the other room – accidentally begins videotaping them, things begin to unravel.

Billie attempts to erase the tape, but, flummoxed by the remote control, she only manages to start it playing again just as the Mayor walks in – thereby establishing His Honor’s uncanny knack for entering the room the moment anything sexually suggestive is happening.

The Mayor is accompanied by Agent Frank – the head of Town Hall security – an impressively nervous man who warns the officers that anyone who dares to try to find the missing money will incur the wrath of a local mafia called the Scottish Clan. Agent Frank speaks with particular fear of a man named Todd – “the Highland hit man” – a formidable villain, who always dons a kilt and plays the bagpipes before making a kill.

When Billie, momentarily alone, discovers a plaid duffel bag in the room – with a kilt inside – this straightforward investigation suddenly turns dangerous. Too frightened to answer Todd’s questions, Billie makes the Scotsman angry. And as he gets angrier, his accent gets thicker, until it’s impossible to understand a word he’s saying.

Meanwhile, the Mayor’s wife has arrived. Is she merely concerned for her husband, or could she somehow be involved in the criminal plot?

Will the embezzled money be recovered? Can Billie be saved before Todd plays the bagpipes? Will Eric and Karen get to have sex? And can the cops manage to capture the crooks without resorting to… Unnecessary Farce?

Auditions will be held Saturday and Sunday, August 29-30, from 1-5pm in the Will Rice/McMurtry PDR (located in the upstairs portion of the newly constructed servery) and again on Tuesday, September 1st, from 7-10pm.

All you need to bring is your sense of humor.

We hope to see you there!

Committee Chairs

Amara DiFrancesco (‘11): amara@rice.edu

Hannah Thalenberg (‘12): hpt1@rice.edu

Categories: