Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board: Blackbox comedy ideas needed

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melmybelle
Walk-On
Walk-On

Joined: 2/25/10
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Posts: 0

Topic: Blackbox comedy ideas needed
Posted: 2/25/10 at 3:24pm

Hi All-- First time poster here.

I'm looking for some ideas for a show with minimal sets (we don't want to build walls). Should be low-tech.

Another catch is that the show should be geared for an adult audience, but family friendly. The play should not be a childrens show, but should not include any sex scenes, excessive bad language, or edgy topics such as sexuality, drug use, etc.

Cast would range from mid 20s-late 40s. More women than men, but not overwhelmingly. 9-12 parts. Bonus points for multiple strong female roles. We have 3 great comedic actresses that we'd like to utilize.

Thank you in advance for your help.

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edh915
Celebrity

Joined: 11/19/09
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 325

Posted: 2/25/10 at 11:44pm

For the most part, I prefer blackbox. The show "ART" works great. So does just about any Shakespeare. Did a great Christmas show called "Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol" with just a ladder, two stools, and four chairs. Obviously, "Our Town" will always be a possibility for you, too.

But the show I would strongly recommend that I think would meet all your criteria is "Enchanted April". Five women, three men. I did it in a blackbox a couple of years ago. First Act is about six or eight different scenes, but each is a different drawing room, so I used two chairs and a table, and let them stand for all locales - just change a vase of flowers, for a picture, for a tea set, for a brandy decanter, and they all become separated in the audience's minds. I also had two high back wooden benches off to each side that became two church pews for one scene, then, facing each other, a railway train compartment. -- Second Act is all the same scene, a garden terrace. We used two leaf-draped arbors, one UL and one UR. One was the exit to the house, the other was the exit to the lower gardens. Lots of potted plants, some wicker furniture, and the two benches from Act I covered with throw pillows.

The story of "Enchanted April" concerns two unhappily married women in 1920's England who need to get away from their loveless marriages. They rent a villa in Italy and dig up two other women to come along and help share expenses. Throw in the handsome owner of the villa, an Italian maid who speaks nothing but Italian during the whole show (a great comic role, sort of an Italian Thelma Ritter) and the comic situations that arise when plot complications bring the two husbands to the very spot the women are using to get away from them. Dramatic moments, great comic scenes, and a "tear in the eye" happy ending that will have some people coming back to see it a second (maybe even a third) time.

I can share production photos and/or technical tips, if you wish.

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pdavis69
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Joined: 3/26/06
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 437

Posted: 2/26/10 at 9:48am

One I would suggest is Dearly Departed by David Bottrell and Jessie Jones. The cast is 4 men 6 women. We did this show with just basic set pieces such as a free standing screen door, a couch, folding chairs, a car seat (all in different sceens). It is available through Dramatists Play Service.

THE STORY: In the Baptist backwoods of the Bible Belt, the beleaguered Turpin family proves that living and dying in the South are seldom tidy and always hilarious. Despite their earnest efforts to pull themselves together for their father's funeral, the Turpin's other problems keep overshadowing the solemn occasion: Firstborn Ray-Bud drinks himself silly as the funeral bills mount; Junior, the younger son, is juggling financial ruin, a pack of no-neck monster kids, and a wife who suspects him of infidelity in the family car; their spinster sister, Delightful, copes with death as she does life, by devouring junk food; and all the neighbors add more than two cents. As the situation becomes fraught with mishap, Ray-Bud says to his long-suffering wife, "When I die, don't tell nobody. Just bury me in the backyard and tell everybody I left you." Amidst the chaos, the Turpins turn for comfort to their friends and neighbors, an eccentric community of misfits who just manage to pull together and help each other through their hours of need, and finally, the funeral.

Whoopie Goldberg did a mediocre movie of this named Kingdom Come with an all star cast. The play is much better.

Patrick L. Davis
Fort Findlay Playhouse

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ozzieparker
Player
Player

Joined: 10/19/09
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 23

Posted: 3/22/10 at 7:55am

How about Pamela Parker's "Dreams of Martha Stewart"? You can google it to find info or just contact me. It is a black box show, no props, tech is as easy or hard as you like. It is written as a one woman show (14 diff parts to play) but I've seen it done with 3.

You never know what's comin' for you.

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Play Suggestions
Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board :Producing Theater :Play Suggestions

Author	Message
melmybelle Walk-On Joined: 2/25/10 Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Topic: Blackbox comedy ideas needed Posted: 2/25/10 at 3:24pm
	Hi All-- First time poster here. I'm looking for some ideas for a show with minimal sets (we don't want to build walls). Should be low-tech. Another catch is that the show should be geared for an adult audience, but family friendly. The play should not be a childrens show, but should not include any sex scenes, excessive bad language, or edgy topics such as sexuality, drug use, etc. Cast would range from mid 20s-late 40s. More women than men, but not overwhelmingly. 9-12 parts. Bonus points for multiple strong female roles. We have 3 great comedic actresses that we'd like to utilize. Thank you in advance for your help.

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edh915 Celebrity Joined: 11/19/09 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 325	Posted: 2/25/10 at 11:44pm
	For the most part, I prefer blackbox. The show "ART" works great. So does just about any Shakespeare. Did a great Christmas show called "Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol" with just a ladder, two stools, and four chairs. Obviously, "Our Town" will always be a possibility for you, too. But the show I would strongly recommend that I think would meet all your criteria is "Enchanted April". Five women, three men. I did it in a blackbox a couple of years ago. First Act is about six or eight different scenes, but each is a different drawing room, so I used two chairs and a table, and let them stand for all locales - just change a vase of flowers, for a picture, for a tea set, for a brandy decanter, and they all become separated in the audience's minds. I also had two high back wooden benches off to each side that became two church pews for one scene, then, facing each other, a railway train compartment. -- Second Act is all the same scene, a garden terrace. We used two leaf-draped arbors, one UL and one UR. One was the exit to the house, the other was the exit to the lower gardens. Lots of potted plants, some wicker furniture, and the two benches from Act I covered with throw pillows. The story of "Enchanted April" concerns two unhappily married women in 1920's England who need to get away from their loveless marriages. They rent a villa in Italy and dig up two other women to come along and help share expenses. Throw in the handsome owner of the villa, an Italian maid who speaks nothing but Italian during the whole show (a great comic role, sort of an Italian Thelma Ritter) and the comic situations that arise when plot complications bring the two husbands to the very spot the women are using to get away from them. Dramatic moments, great comic scenes, and a "tear in the eye" happy ending that will have some people coming back to see it a second (maybe even a third) time. I can share production photos and/or technical tips, if you wish.
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pdavis69 Celebrity Joined: 3/26/06 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 437	Posted: 2/26/10 at 9:48am
	One I would suggest is Dearly Departed by David Bottrell and Jessie Jones. The cast is 4 men 6 women. We did this show with just basic set pieces such as a free standing screen door, a couch, folding chairs, a car seat (all in different sceens). It is available through Dramatists Play Service. THE STORY: In the Baptist backwoods of the Bible Belt, the beleaguered Turpin family proves that living and dying in the South are seldom tidy and always hilarious. Despite their earnest efforts to pull themselves together for their father's funeral, the Turpin's other problems keep overshadowing the solemn occasion: Firstborn Ray-Bud drinks himself silly as the funeral bills mount; Junior, the younger son, is juggling financial ruin, a pack of no-neck monster kids, and a wife who suspects him of infidelity in the family car; their spinster sister, Delightful, copes with death as she does life, by devouring junk food; and all the neighbors add more than two cents. As the situation becomes fraught with mishap, Ray-Bud says to his long-suffering wife, "When I die, don't tell nobody. Just bury me in the backyard and tell everybody I left you." Amidst the chaos, the Turpins turn for comfort to their friends and neighbors, an eccentric community of misfits who just manage to pull together and help each other through their hours of need, and finally, the funeral. Whoopie Goldberg did a mediocre movie of this named Kingdom Come with an all star cast. The play is much better.
	Patrick L. Davis Fort Findlay Playhouse
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ozzieparker Player Joined: 10/19/09 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 23	Posted: 3/22/10 at 7:55am
	How about Pamela Parker's "Dreams of Martha Stewart"? You can google it to find info or just contact me. It is a black box show, no props, tech is as easy or hard as you like. It is written as a one woman show (14 diff parts to play) but I've seen it done with 3.
	You never know what's comin' for you.
	IP Logged

Topic: Blackbox comedy ideas needed( Topic Closed)