 "Photo: Julie Davis")
Texas Tech’s theater production for this week, “The Underpants,” is based in Nazi Germany and centers around the Loch Ness Monster, infamy and a pair of lacy red, black and yellow bloomers.
In this adaptation of Steve Martin’s “The Underpants,” directed by Johnathon Marks, Alex Moore, a second-year master’s in performance and pedagogy student from Corpus Christi, plays the role of Louise Maske who, for the namesake of the production, drops her underpants in public.
About 10 years ago, Marks said, Martin decided the book “The Underpants” had the makings of an excellent play but needed to be adapted by the proper comic sensibility.
“He created an eminently producible work, a little more immediate for American audiences, and quite stage worthy,” Marks said. “In the College of Visual and Performing Arts, one of my associates is a former personal assistant of Mr. Martin. She talked to the cast about working with him and she told me that his passport, underneath his occupation, said, ‘Writer.’ The more I thought about that, the more appropriate it became. He’s a very intelligent man.”
Putting the show together is Heidi Hoffer, guest scene director; Layne Kulhanek, stage manager; Jeleesa Patton, costume designer; Don Ellis, sound manager; Ann Marie Walker, makeup artist; and Andrea Bilkey light manager.
Leslie Gulden, assistant director, said Marks’ crew and cast unanimously agree his direction of the production is a pleasurable experience.
“One of the things I really appreciate in this show is Dr. Marks’ nature to be very inclusive,” Gulden said.
The cast readily indulged in the production too, Moore said.
“It’s very fast, very quick humor. There are a lot of innuendoes, side gags and ‘What did you just say?’ moments,” Moore said. “If people pay attention, I think they’ll really get a kick out of it.”
Martin’s play casts Louise Maske and her husband Theo, played by Benito Vazquez, into a frenzied year of promiscuous behavior with their two tennants bent on wooing Louise.
Hannah McKinney, a second-year master’s in performance and pedagogy student from Aledo, plays the nosy neighbor upstairs, Gertrude Deuter.
“Gertrude gets into Louise’s business, probably because her own life is boring and involves multiple cats,” said McKinney giggling. “She’s very excited at the prospect of Louise taking on a lover, she actually decides to make her some sexier bloomers. She’s quite the sassy broad.”
Out of the 11 or so plays Marks has directed, this is his favorite. Occasionally directors have to teach a group to cooperate, but Marks said this cast gets along well naturally.
Practices last from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. six days a week, but they like being there.
From an actor’s perspective, participation is the key to performing.
“One thing I think is really important is honoring the playwright,” said Casey Pierce, a sophomore theater acting major from Bastrop. “A good playwright makes the actor’s job easy and there’ll be as little acting as possible. There was a sign that said ‘No Acting, Please.’ That’s good; you want to see people on the stage living, not acting, even for a show full of fart jokes, like ‘The Underpants.’”
The performance will run 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and again at 2 p.m. Dec. 6 in the Maedgen Theater. Tickets cost $12 for individuals or $5 for students carrying a valid Tech ID.
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