Pack of Lies, written at the height of the cold war, is about the shadowy world of espionage. Although I chose the play last summer, it seems particularly apt at the moment. The question for such people remains - how do you justify your actions with private judgments of your own, especially when so many innocent people are hurt by such actions. That will be the thrust of my director's meditations on the play's implications.

"Inspecting Carol" is a satire of contemporary theatre.  The premise of a play within a play begins at the Soapbox Theatre Company's rehearsal of their annual fundraiser, "A Christmas Carol".  The company's future is suddenly in jeopardy when a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts is withheld pending an artistic evaluation of their production.  They will be sending an Inspector, but who? What can the actors do to impress the NEA with their artistic choices and save the company?  With mistaken identity and poor choices, the company of 10 performers flounders their way through their annual production.  This comedy of errors is a rollicking farce of contemporary values. 

 Prospero is Shakespeare's theatrical magician, a lover of books who has neglected to shield himself from the cunning of political foes, and, as a result, is stranded on an island. Incantation, the sound of words spoken with the purpose of enchanting the listener, is the weapon of a magician. The Tempest is created by the sound of the spoken word.  Shakespeare calls it "rough magic," effects created without computer simulation, effective only to the keen listener, and, as a consequence, an excellent example of the speech teachers’ calling. 

 Are we not trying to encourage students to enjoy the mystery of the spoken word?  Is that not a reflection of the mystery of our human nature, the fact that, as W. B. Yeats wrote, we must be talking to our friends?  Shakespeare has set himself the task of transporting us in our imagination to a charming land where spirits can appear invisible by merely saying eloquently that they are not there.  He creates a storm with thundering language, and romance with poetic words.

 Ought we to ask ourselves the alarming question -- have we lost the connection between our imagination and the sound of the spoken word?  Have we ceased listening to the "rough magic" of poetic art? Is our attention span limited to sinking ships, and startling car crashes?    

   Or, to put it another way, is an oral communication class a waste of time?

 Goofiness takes center stage!
The action of the play focuses on a young architect, Willum Cubbert, and his struggle with a hopelessly inept and tactless "nerd", Rick Steadman.
Plot:
Willum Gilbert has it all - a promising career as an architect, devoted friends, even, maybe, a serious girlfriend. But then Rick Steadman, the ultimate social misfit, comes to visit and puts everything in peril. Rick saved Willum's life in Vietnam and now he has come back to take advantage of a vow that Willum had made to him--a vow that as long as Rick lived, he would have one person on Earth who would do anything for him. So, much to the delight of Willum, Rick decides to take him up on his offer by showing up at his apartment in the middle of his birthday party. However, Rick overstays his welcome with a vengeance. In fact, Rick comes painfully close to ruining Willum's career, and his social life. As the tension mounts and the situations become increasingly more ridiculous, The Nerd escalates into madcap farce as Willum tries to out-nerd his sanity-destroying houseguest. Watch out for an ending that you never would have guessed!