Capital City Productions is set next week to premiere a masterpiece of malfunction.
CCP presents "The Play That Goes Wrong" at 7 p.m. March 31 through April 2 and April 7-9. There will also be matinee performances at 1 p.m. April 2 and April 9. The show welcomes audiences of all ages.
The play about a play focuses on the opening night of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society's murder mystery "The Murder at Haversham Manor." The stakes are high, but things quickly go from bad to disastrous as the set is not yet finished. Nevertheless, the actors will push through to reach the final curtain, even though things are literally falling apart around them.
Director Rob Crouse said anything and everything that could be an actor's nightmare happens in this show, taken to new heights. There's a leading lady who gets knocked out, and the production crew fills in lines -- not to mention the drinking of flammable solutions, moving a dead body and even a second story floor collapsing.
You'll know "The Play That Goes Wrong" will go wrong from the start. As the curtain comes up, Chris, played by Don Otto, tells the audience about the society's history of being unable to put on shows the way they were originally written -- for example, a runaway peach in "James and the Peach" turned a past play into "James! Where's your Peach?" -- but they're confident this will be the show that goes right.
Of course, chaos unravels instead.
It's also been a complex show for CCP to design. There are pictures on the walls that are meant to fall down, a shield that knocks a cast member down, and a stretcher that rips through the set -- leaving a dead body, played by Mike Azar, to walk off stage.
"That is a huge part of the challenge of this show because the set has to be built with all kinds of collapsible things," Crouse said. "It's an incredibly challenging comedy but a must-see for audience because they will never have seen anything (like it)."
To advise on the safety of the set, one of Crouse's friends who has worked in engineering was brought in to give his input on making the props. With second-story floors collpasing and all manners of clumsy falls, you can never be too careful.
The cast also had to be ready for the challenge. Crouse said the audition process also tested the actors' physical comedy abilities. On top of reading lines and scene rehearsing, he would give them an emotion and ask them to respond with an appropriate facial expression. They were also asked if they had any physical comedy or gymnastic experience as there are some leaps and falls in the play.
Some CCP regulars will return to the stage, along with some new faces. Peter Lyskowski, who plays Robert, investigates the play's murder and can't seem to pick up the right props. Alexa Knippenberg, who plays leading lady Sandra, falls unconscious and is haphazardly carried off stage through a window. Newcomer Mykel Thompson, who plays Dennis, has trouble keeping up with the keys to the manor.
The physical comedy is part of what makes the play funny to young audiences, Crouse said. Cast members are at times holding up multiple props at once; stage crew members are seen placing props -- sometimes not the right ones -- into scenes and even interacting with the audience.
"It's just an outrageous comedy. ... When I saw it in Kansas City, I laughed until I cried," Crouse said. "It's just such an unbelievably great experience."
Dinner for evening shows begins at 6:30 p.m.; dinner for matinee shows begins at noon. Meals will be provided by A Catered Affair food catering service as part of CCP's "Taste of JC!" pay-it-forward program. Tickets are $38 for dinner and the show and can be purchased at www.ccpjc.org or bit.ly/3EzDyFz, by calling 573-681-9612 or emailing [email protected]. Masks are not required.
GMM - CCP The Play That Goes Wrong. Shaun Zimmerman / News Tribune
GMM - CCP The Play That Goes Wrong. Shaun Zimmerman / News Tribune
GMM - CCP The Play That Goes Wrong. Shaun Zimmerman / News Tribune
GMM - CCP The Play That Goes Wrong. Shaun Zimmerman / News Tribune