Callboard

Weekend Comedy
Plays Jan 13 thru Feb 5

It's interesting that the Racine Theatre Guild's next show, called Weekend Comedy, is written by a husband-and-wife team, Sam and Jeanne Bobrick. The show is all about two couples and their relationships with each other, with a comic twist. The Bobricks have given an amusing look at life, love, marriage and relationships. Weekend Comedy opens Friday, January 13, and runs through February 5.

The premise of the show is simple. Frank and Peggy have booked a cabin in the Catskills for a weekend. They have been married for many years and are very set in their ways. Frank is reluctant to leave home and worries about everything, especially his job in office supplies. Peggy is hoping the weekend getaway will inject some romance back into their marriage.

Into the cabin walk Jill and Tony, a younger couple who have also rented the same cabin for the weekend, due to a booking mistake. It's late, no one wants to leave, and they end up sharing the cabin, with Jill and Tony taking the bedroom and Frank and Peggy sleeping on the sofa pull-out bed.

Romance seems to go by the wayside as the two couples get to know each other and the two men in particular spar verbally back and forth about life and work and relationships. Talk about a generation gap! You couldn't find two more different couples.

Frank and Peggy have been married 23 years, and the younger couple is not married. Frank has worked hard all his life, while Tony comes from a wealthy family. Peggy cooks everything from scratch, while Jill offers some frozen dinners. The younger couple listen to rock and roll; Frank prefers silence. Jill and Tony talk about their travels to Europe; Frank thinks a business trip to Cincinnati is good enough. You get the picture.

Occasional sparks fly as Frank, affronted by Tony's references to him being old, challenges Tony to a hundred-yard dash outside in the woods. Tony calls Frank "a man without poetry, without dreams, without vision."

You'll have to see the show to discover what the two couples learn from each other. But remember, it's called a "weekend comedy," so the laughs come thick and fast as the zingers zip back and forth.

Sam Bobrick has written for many shows in Hollywood, including Get Smart and The Andy Griffith Show. He has written plays with his wife Jeanne, including Sheldon and Mrs. Levine, and a one-man comedy about the life of Lenny Bruce called Lenny's Back.

Weekend Comedy was first presented in 1985 in Kansas City, Missouri, and has had successful runs throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Various critics have written of the show:

"Laughs are 24-karat gold."

"An effective new entry on the sprightly side such as this one is very welcome."

"Thoroughly enjoyable, and its homespun humor strikes chords regardless of your age."

Weekend Comedy opens January 13 and runs four weekends through February 5. It's the perfect light entertainment to help brighten the winter doldrums. Call the box office for reservations and ticket information, at 633-4218.

From the Managing/Artistic Director - Doug Instenes

Get Rid of the Winter Blues

This year's mid-winter show at the Racine Theatre Guild is a comedy, chosen by our play-reading committee to help us laugh our way through the winter. And it's a comedy about relationships.

I don't know much about Sam and Jeanne Bobrick, the playwrights of Weekend Comedy, but I suspect they have been married a long time. That reflects in their writing about the older couple, Frank and Peggy, who are comfortable with each other and perhaps a bit boring. They are thrown together for a weekend with a younger couple who challenge just about everything Frank and Peggy say and do.

The humor arises from the conflicts between the couples, especially between the two men. While this comedy entertains without delving deeply into any serious themes, it still looks at love and the interactions between couples.

Is love a fizzy and exciting thing? Or is love comfort and steadiness? Is love for one another a commitment or an adventure? Is love sharing a sense of humor? Is love beginning to get to know each other? Or is love knowing everything about someone else and loving them anyway?

Above all, the Bobricks seem to tell us that love and laughter are closely linked. Come prepared to laugh your way through Weekend Comedy. It's neither profound nor serious, but rather a light-hearted look at people as represented by Frank and Peggy and Tony and Jill.

We wish all of you a very happy new year, and that you will know the comfort of loving and being loved by others. We hope you enjoy Weekend Comedy.

Cast and Crew

Weekend Comedy

by Sam and Jeanne Bobrick

Director.............................Michael Snider

Cast
Frank ............................... Jerry Rannow
Peggy ............................... Gayle Titus
Tony ................................. John Strack
Jill ..................................... Mary Vance-Welsh

Crew
Prod. Stage Mgr. .............. Fran Maccanelli
Stage Manager .................. Dana Strauss
Scenic Design ................... Tom Colwin
Technical Director ............. Kurt Oian
ASM ................................ Kevin Edmonston
Props ................................ Heather Bumstead
Costume Design ................ Sharon Drasen
Wardrobe Supervisor ....... Amber Fay
Sound Design ................... David Zimmerman
Sound Tech./Lt. Design .... Brian Schalk
Makeup ........................... Jeanne Christensen
Light Tech. ....................... Kathy Berg

The above was first published in the Racine Theatre Guild's newsletter The Callboard and is written by volunteer Nancy Moldenhauer, a free-lance writer.