ESU Theatre to present Lone Star, Laundry & Bourbon
Emporia State University
Friday, September 11, 2009
The 2009-10 season of plays for ESU Theatre opens Sept. 22 with a pair of one-act comedies.
Texas playwright James McClure wrote “Laundry & Bourbon” and “Lone Star” as companion pieces. The plays are set on a hot summer’s day in the town of Maynard, Texas, in 1975. These tales of husbands, wives, war, love and honor are both hysterically funny and surprisingly relevant. Both plays are rated PG for strong language and situations.
“Lone Star,” presented initially by the Actors Theatre of Louisville and then produced successfully on Broadway, is a hilarious study of a pair of Texas “good ole boys” on a Saturday night spree behind Angel’s Bar in Maynard. Lone Star refers to the beer that Roy (Bob Hart, senior, Overland Park), a returning Vietnam vet, and his younger brother Ray (Chris Lohkamp, senior, Wichita), drink every night in the back of Angel’s bar.
Roy loves three things — his country, his beautiful wife, Elizabeth, and his pink 1959 Thunderbird convertible — not necessarily in that order. With the arrival of Cletis (Ryan Scully, junior, Winchester), the foolish, newlywed son of the local hardware store owner, the underpinnings of Roy’s world begin to collapse. Still, the high good humor of the play never lapses, and all ends as breezily and happily as it began.
In “Laundry & Bourbon,” we visit Elizabeth’s back porch in Maynard on a hot summer afternoon. Elizabeth (Brianne Simon, senior, Rosalie) and her friend Hattie (Lindsay Ward, sophomore, Gardner) are whiling away the time gossiping, folding laundry, watching TV and sipping bourbon and Coke.
When the self-righteous Amy Lee (Natalie King, freshman, Wichita) stops by, the bourbon flows and the laundry flies. From it emerges a sense of Elizabeth’s inner strength and her quiet understanding of the turmoil that has beset her husband since his return from Vietnam.
The New York Post said about the original production: “Mr. McClure’s strongest suit is dialogue — salty, comic banter that derives from colorful indigenous characters.”
Gabe Moyer (senior, Olathe) is directing “Lone Star” and faculty member Nancy Pontius directs “Laundry & Bourbon.” The set designer is senior Ben Williams (Elbing). The costume designer is Lindsay Roland (senior, Grand Island, Neb.); lighting design by Naoko Ishizuka (senior, Chiba, Japan); and sound design by Jeremiah Devine (senior, Hutchinson). Levi Howe (senior, Columbus, Neb.) is the production stage manager and Laura Dossett (sophomore, Jenks, Okla.) is the assistant stage manager.
“Lone Star” and “Laundry & Bourbon” will be presented in the Ronald Q. Fredrickson Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 22 through 27. A matinee performance is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sept. 27. Tickets are available from the university box office at 341-6378 or toll-free at (877) 341-6378.