Our First Foray

by Scott Culpepper

Situation Comedy was the first show we ever produced at the Milk Building.  Of interest to no one, we had originally planned to produce a very funny comedy called "Running in the Red".  Unfortunately, the production called for a cast of twelve, eight of whom were male characters.  Anyone producing theater in Indianapolis can tell you that casting eight decent male actors at once is tantamount to hitting the powerball with your butt cheeks....wait, no...that's playing pick up sticks, you get the point.   Please don't misunderstand.  It's no knock on the local male talent, but at last count there are currently well over sixty theaters, troupes, groups and traveling shows in Indy, not to mention new competition from amateur and professional films.  By default most scripts call for mostly male actors...and there just aren't enough male actors, good or bad, to fill all the roles...and did I mention we're located in Lebanon, you do the math.  Our dreams died before they left paper.  It's actually kind of scary, during the busy season, a half decent actor caught walking around after dark will find himself mugged, drugged and thrust onto some makeshift stage, mumbling random lines from Plaza Suite before he knows what hit him.  Long story short we changed scripts and downsized our needs to a more reasonable six.  Three guys and three gals in a great little comedy.  Situation Comedy.

This caricature was done by Westfield artist Rick Morris.  Rick has a tendency to accentuate the bosoms a wee bit.

Before the final compilation artwork (above), Rick Morris came to an early rehearsal to draw individual character sketches.  And, no, we didn't forget Mrs. Trotter.  Ms. Bailey was unavailable to attend that particular rehearsal.

     Casting is not easy.  This is a true story.  When we held our first auditions, not one person showed up.  On top of that, one person who was there to help out had to leave.  This means that technically, negative one person showed up to the audition.  We named this negative entity Herb and offered it a leading role in our first show.  Herb accepted, but two days later Buck Creek stole him away when he found out that they have air conditioning (we have air conditioning, we just don't waste it on actors).  So after mourning the loss of negative entity Herb...we settled for Jeff Roby.  That's him below in the snazzy blue jacket strangling the life out of me.  (Before I go on, you should know we're not a bunch of punks up here in Lebanon.  We got back at Buck Creek.  We borrowed a suit of armor from them and didn't return it for a really really really long time.  Take that Leah Viney.)

As you can see from this picture, the Situation Comedy set was split; with two very different personalities.  Kind of like Bob Grause seen here sporting a purple cape.  Also pictured from left to right; Angi Bailey, Nikki Hunter, Scott Culpepper, Jeff Roby and Lisa kaake.

    That's not true about settling for Jeff Roby...we actually tricked him into taking the part.  Jeff had agreed to take a very small role in "Running in the Red" and had planned on helping mostly with the tech backstage.  We told him he could do the same for this new show and just didn't mention we'd given him the largest part in the script until it was too late for him to back out.  (Jeff was very polite back then) You do what you have to.  Lisa, who is a consummate professional, I had known in high school.  Lisa graduated with honors from Yale University.  I can't remember how we got her to join the cast (blackmail).  We stole Angie Baily from Epilogue and Bob actually came to the slightly more successful second night of auditions.  Nikki was dating me and was cast in an odd reversal of the old casting couch bit.  She didn't get the part because we were dating.  We were dating so she was forced to take the part.  I cast myself as well.  Keep reading and you'll find out I do that a lot.  It's fun!

Going clockwise starting with the girl wrapped in the tragic curtains, Lisa Kaake, Bob Grause and Jeff Roby as the beaver.

This was really a fun show for us.  While we like to think we continue to improve show after show, (we've certainly increased the level of spectacle) there are many people who still count Situation Comedy as their favorite.  Granted it started a little rough...like the Titanic started a little rough.  On opening night it was cool outside and all the bodies and lights inside made for a nice evening as far as temperature was concerned.  The next night we had to fire up the air conditioning for the first time since it had been installed, and it started to rain....inside.  You know how, when you drink a cold drink on a hot day, and the glass sweats water all over your nice furniture, imagine eight glasses forty feet long.  We had a condensation problem.  We're not talking about the drip. drip. drip. of a leaky faucet, it was a freakin' rain forest in there. The audience was already coming in by the time we realized what was happening, so we covered up the seats that were getting dripped on the worst with black plastic and those brave enough to sit through the storm saw our second performance.  From the stage, the audience looked like the last hangers on when it rains out early at the Indy 500.  Little moon faces huddled under garbage bags and umbrellas hoping against hope that something good might still happen while everyone else with any sense has already gone home.  It was worse onstage.  One of the main ducts ran right over the entire length of the stage and it rained on our heads all night.  To cap it all off, God's truth, there was a line in the play when one character asks, "Is it still raining?" to which another character, drunk and very much indoors, holds out their hand and replies, Is it?  I can't feel it."  Not a titter was heard over the roar of the irony.

Here is the set in various stages of completion.  Yep, that's a forklift onstage.  In the picture on the upper right you see a tiny Susan Rardin who would join us later for "Midnight".  In the same picture we see Amanda Lane on the ladder behind the couch.  Amanda is always lending a hand and she's pictured here actual size.

There's a story behind the Polaroid's below though it's not a very good one.  One of the characters in the show is a nosey spinster who is also a terrible gossip.  At one point early on, she catches her neighbors in a compromising position.  We thought it would be funny if, instead of just taking a mental note of the situation, she would actually pull out a Polaroid and snap off a quick shot to use as a visual aid later on at the garden fence.  As it turned out, the only way to make the joke play was to use an actual camera with actual film.   It was an ok gag and got some laughs.  Meanwhile backstage the discarded Polaroid's were piling up on the prop table and some of them were pretty funny.  We did the joke at two points in the show (we never drive a gag into the ground) and below are a few choice pics for your viewing pleasure.

Note how Lisa is in the exact same position with a nearly identical look on her face each night.  The mark of a true professional who takes her rehearsing and her role very seriously.

In contrast, note how I flop around like a dead fish, lacking even the slightest hint of continuity.  If you look closely at the third picture, you'll see I'm hidden from the audience by the couch. This affords me the opportunity to mug for the camera like a goob in a vain attempt to get my fellow actors to break character  PROOOOfessional.

To make a long story short, (too late) after a couple weekends to work out the bugs we had a nice solid piece of entertainment, and most people went home quite happy with how their evening had turned out.

     Program Page 1

     Program Page 2

     Program Page 3

     Program Page 4

Not asleep yet?  Well then it's on to I'll be back before Midnight!