William Penn Theatre Department’s “Black Comedy”

Cast of "Black Comedy" Sam Looney (back center) the rest of the cast in no particular order - Nic Steel, Joe Kleinmeyer, Jason Madrid, Chris Meinert, Aaron Frederick, Killie Anderson, Courtney Ann Kleinschmidt, Rachel Carnes, (Tech) - Tyler Wallraven, Sydni Hansen

William Penn’s Theatre Department put on it’s first production with Sam Looney at the helm.

There were 3 performances, November 12 & 13 at 7:30 pm and Sunday November 14 at 2:00 pm at George Daily Auditorium in Oskaloosa.

Cast for the production: Aaron Frederick, Rachel Carnes, Courtney Ann Kleinschmidt, Nick Steele, Joe Kleinmeyer, Jason Madrid, Killie Anderson, Chris Meinert. Tech for production was Tyler Wallraven and Sydni Hansen. Director Sam Looney.

The cast and crew were in production for around 2 months prior to performances.  The crew was ready for the break after all the hard work that went into production.

Sam Looney thought the performance went well, with the cast of 8 and 2 crew members.

On a personal note, I did enjoy this performance by the crew, and thought they did a wonderful job.

The following plot overview is from Wikipedia:

Black Comedy is a one-act play by British dramatist Peter Shaffer, first performed in 1965. The play is, suitably enough, a black comedy in which the effect loss of light would have on a group of people who all hold things from each other is explored; as such, its title is a pun.

The play is a farce set in a London flat during an electrical blackout, and is written to be staged under a reversed lighting scheme: that is, the play opens with a dinner party beginning on a darkened stage, then a few minutes into the show “a fuse blows”, the stage lights come up, and the characters are seen shambling around apparently invisible to one another.

The play begins at 9:30 on a Sunday evening, in the London flat of sculptor Brindsley Miller. He and his fiancée, Carol Melkett, are preparing for a party, in order to impress Carol’s father Colonel Melkett and millionaire art buyer Georg Bamberger (who is rumored to be deaf). In order to “spruce up” Brindsley’s apartment, they have stolen neighbor Harold Gorringe’s beloved antique furniture (for Harold is away for the weekend). Just as the last piece of stolen furniture is set in place, the lights go out: a fuse has blown in the cellar.

As Brindsley and Carol search for candles, torches and matches, the phone rings. It is Clea (Brindsley’s mistress), who wants to arrange a liaison for that evening. Brindsley hurriedly informs her that no such thing is possible. First to arrive is upstairs neighbor Miss Furnival, who is seeking company to avoid her fear of the dark. A minister’s daughter, Miss Furnival has been a lifelong teetotaler. Colonel Melkett arrives, and is unimpressed with Brindsley’s unpreparedness for a fuse. He is also unimpressed with Brindsley’s sculpture, which he looks at using his lighter. The voice of Harold is heard outside, and Brindsley desperately pulls him into the flat (so that he will not go into his own flat and find it out of order). In the dark, Harold is unable to recognize his own furniture, and Brindsley embarks on a series of blind acrobatics in his attempt to remove and replace all of Harold’s stolen furniture.

As Brindsley enters and exits with various bits of furniture, Carol serves drinks. Miss Furnival is mistakenly handed the Colonel’s whiskey and Harold’s gin. Having never consumed alcohol in her life, Miss Furnival begins to get tipsy. The Colonel illuminates his lighter, and Brindsley is found on the floor. He lies about where he has been (“at the pub, searching for some candles”). Clea chooses this moment to make her entrance. She makes no sound, and thus nobody is aware of her presence even as they talk about her. Carol (thinking that Clea is an ex-girlfriend), calls her “blowsy,” and Harold deems her “ugly.” Miss Furnival recalls her as “tiresomely Bohemian”. Clea slaps Brindsley in the face, and Brindsley eventually recognizes her by catching hold of her behind, of which he recognizes the feel. He hides her away in his room.

It is at this point that Schuppanzigh, the German electrician sent to repair the fuse, arrives. All mistake him (due to his accent) for Bamberger, and make misguided attempts to impress him. Schuppanzigh, meanwhile, imparts some of his aesthetic philosophies. When his identity is discovered, he is cast into the cellar to mend the fuse. Clea re-emerges and, pretending to be the cleaner “Mrs Punnett” reveals her affair with Brindsley. She insinuates that “this Clea” is pregnant with Brindsley’s child, infuriating Colonel Melkett and Carol. The furies are interrupted as Miss Furnival arises from the couch on which she had dozed off, making a loud drunken speech about nothing at all. She is led off home by Harold. Once again Carol and the Colonel advance on Brindsley, until Harold re-enters with a shriek of anger. He has just discovered the state of his room, and is furious about its disheveled condition. Now all three try to catch Brindsley, but are once again interrupted by the entrance of the deaf Georg Bamberger, who loses his way and tumbles down the stairs just as Schuppanzigh returns from the cellar. With a speech about God and the most miraculous gift of the creation, Schuppanzigh throws on the light switch, and the curtain falls just as Brindsley’s doom is assured.