The Underpants: A Theatrical Adventure

“This is not serious method acting.  Do you get that, guys?  I mean, Steve Martin wrote this. You allThe Underpants need to have infinitely more fun.”

That was the note given to us by Professor Edward Isser after he watched a rehearsal of The Underpants shortly before ThanksgivingLuckily, we still had two weeks before opening night to find our fun, and Savannah Plante ‘16 (our director) has squeezed the funny out of us.  As I write this backstage before our final dress rehearsal, Professor Isser’s comment sums up the show perfectly.

Steve Martin, for so many of us, is a staple of our childhood: Father of the Bride, The Pink Panther, Cheaper by the Dozen, Saturday Night Live… I can think of so many family movie nights where Steve Martin left me in stitches.  I have always had a kind of weird attachment to the man: my father bares an uncanny resemblance to Steve (or at least he did – Steve seems to have gotten younger and my dad…well…), my favorite movie is Father of the Bride, and now I get to act in a play he wrote.  How excellent is that?  This show is vintage Steve Martin comedy.  It’s chock-full of zany characters, ridiculous turns-of-phrase, and plenty of high and low comedy.  It never takes itself too seriously and the script is delightful to play with as a performer.  For the audience, I can’t think of a more pleasant way to spend an hour and a half during a stress-crazed exam crunch.

As someone whose time at Holy Cross is rapidly coming to a close, I sometimes consider some of my best moments at Holy Cross (only sometimes, I promise – I’m not that crazy).  So many of these are Friday and Saturday nights on Fenwick Stage with a bright stage and a laughing audience. I’m excited to add this show to my Rolodex.  If the audience has a fraction of the fun that we have on stage, it’s going to be a really special set of performances.

The cast and crew has been working hard rehearsing, sewing underwear, hanging lights, grilling sausages, building sets and painting portraits of fake German Kaisers.  If you have a free hour or two, come check us out.  Let us do the thinking for once, just sit back and enjoy.

– Erik Schneider ’16

The Underpants is directed by Savannah Plante ’16 and runs December 3, 4, and 5 at 8:00pm and December 5 and 6 at 2:00pm in the Fenwick Theatre. $7 for the HC Community, $10 General Admission.

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