by Carl Sternheim, adapted by Steve Martin
September 13-28, 2008
Producers: Lara Terrell & Tom Wojtunik for The Gallery Players
Director: Seth Soloway
Production Stage Manager: Jodi Witherell
Assistant Director: Stefanie Horowitz
Assistant Stage Manager: DaVonne Bacchus
Set Designer: Stephen K. Dobay
Costume Designer: Danielle Schembre
Lighting Designer: Tony Galaska
Sound Designer: Ned Thorne
Pictured (l to r): Nat Cassidy and Amy L. Smith in The Gallery Players production of The Underpants. Photo by Jen Maufrais Kelly.
The Cast
Louise Maske: Catia Ojeda*
Theo Maske: Justin Herfel*
Gertrude Deuter: Amy L. Smith
Frank Versati: Nat Cassidy*
Benjamin Cohen: Jason Schuchman*
Klinglehoff: Peter Levine*
Visitor #1: Dennis Michael Keefe
Visitor #2: DaVonne Bacchus
*Appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association
Pictured: Catia Ojeda in The Gallery Players production of The Underpants. Photo by Jen Maufrais Kelly.
Steve Martin, the renowned comic actor and author provides a wild satire adapted from the classic German play about Louise and Theo Maske, a couple whose conservative existence is shattered when Louise’s bloomers fall down in public. Though she pulls them up quickly, he thinks the incident will cost him his job as a government clerk. Louise’s momentary display does not result in the feared scandal but it does attract two infatuated men, each of whom wants to rent the spare room in the Maskes’ home. Oblivious of their amorous objectives, Theo splits the room between them, happy to collect rent from both the foppish poet and the whiny hypochondriac.
Pictured (l to r): Jason Schuchman and Justin Herfel in The Gallery Players production of The Underpants. Photo by Jen Maufrais Kelly.
Seth Soloway, artistic director at The Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts, directs. Additional directing credits include: Two Rooms, Twelfth Night, Antigone and the New York premiere of Survival by Jeremy Basescu. On directing The Underpants for The Gallery Players, Mr. Soloway says: “During an election season in which we are inundated with issues ranging from health care and foreign policy strategy, versus someone’s age and what their pastor said, I cannot think of a more fitting and fun farce to take Gallery’s stage than The Underpants. Steve Martin creates a world where a new King has just been crowned, yet all the characters have one chief concern: underwear. This hilarious play will not only provide audiences with the Steve Martin that they expect, but it will also serve as a mirror to the world we live in today.”
“Sometimes, all you’re really in the mood for is a good, hearty laugh…The Gallery Players’ new production of The Underpants is just that kind of fun…The Underpants [is] a delight, a great value, and, most of all, the perfect respite from the seriousness of real life.”
-Sarah Portlock, The Brooklyn Paper
Pictured (l to r): Catia Ojeda and Nat Cassidy in The Gallery Players production of The Underpants. Photo by Jen Maufrais Kelly.
Performance schedule:
Saturday, September 13th at 8:00 pm – opening night
Sunday, September 14th at 3:00 pm
Thursday, September 18th at 8:00 pm
Friday, September 19th at 8:00 pm
Saturday, September 20th at 2:00 pm
Saturday, September 20th at 8:00 pm
Sunday, September 21st at 3:00 pm
Thursday, September 25th at 8:00 pm
Friday, September 26th at 8:00 pm
Saturday, September 27th at 2:00 pm
Saturday, September 27th at 8:00 pm
Sunday, September 28th at 3:00 pm
