Baby With The Bathwater

Peter/Wright/McKenna

publicity email~ "I wonder which it is? Insane, or humoring us?" ask parents John and Helen about their newborn child (after it smiles for them). Thus begins Christopher Durang's absurdist two-act play "Baby with the Bathwater," being performed by Scotch'n'Soda Theatre this Friday and Saturday. The audience will share in such magical moments as the story of a little girl... er... boy... er... baby who is tragically drawn to moving buses, a woman who has no furniture whose dog has an appetite for infants, and most of all, a couple whose best parenting advice is simply, "Don't give the baby Nyquil until it's at least three... we made that mistake with you." The show, directed by Clare Drobot, and headed up by actors Adam Atkinson, Alex Orgera, and Sam McUmber, will be performed in a totally transformed Peter-Wright-McKenna room that simulates an entire studio apartment. As absurd and off-the-wall as the script may be, the directorial and production staff is making sure the show comes off as realistically as possible, with all the lighting provided by actual lamps and changed by the actors and the audience members. The audience, in turn, will be seated throughout the apartment on couches, beanbag chairs, and other living room furniture. So, if you fee the need to escape from CMU life for a while and have a few laughs in the process, Scotch'n'Soda's "Baby with the Bathwater" this Friday and Saturday is the place to be.

                " The idea for Baby basically came from me being interested in doing a small modern play. I’ve always liked Durang and I think small plays that deal with very basic human interactions are accessible to student actors. I read many of Durang’s plays and clicked with Baby.

                The process of putting the show together is something I’ve done with S'n'S on several shows, but Baby was well…my baby.  After we cast the show, the real work began as the cast had to come to terms with the material. I think it’s easy in a lot of modern pseudo-absurdist theatre to just play the parts as “crazy” and although Helen, John, and Nanny were all insane, they had human qualities. Very few people see themselves as evil or crazy and the actors have to really be at ease with their actions. Then there was the struggle of aging, and I’m really convinced that nothing helps a cast feel old like having an early Saturday morning rehearsal when everyone is tired and hung over. Heh heh. The cast was great about working with my ideas of natural blocking and experiment with character exercises. I loved having the cast play their parts as someone else would. How else could you get RuPaul, Fred Durst, and Blanche Dubois to raise a child? Hmmmm and I thought Daisy couldn’t have turned out any worse.

                As all the acting, blocking, and bonding went on, we struggled to realize the idea of turning the Peter Wright McKenna room (as shall we say less than ideal space) into a studio apartment. The more we worked on it the better the set plans looked. I have to thank Fred, Paul, Ross, and Maya for all their design work. I may have been able to see a vague picture in my head, but I would never have been able to realize the physical aspects of this show without their help. I’m wholeheartedly convinced that once a show reaches tech week, the director is mostly useless and I’ve never slept so little in my life (yes, yes I did pass out in the dungeon painting), but it was definitely worth it. Even thought the set was finished about an hour before the show started.

                In addition, I’m impressed with Fred’s u-haul driving in snow skills and the willingness (well maybe there was some bribery/ coercion involved, but no need to speak of this) to allow us to steal their couches for a week. The final set was incredible; I would have lived in that apartment! Look at the set pictures; I really think that small shows like this are what S'n'S excels at. Because you can take the audience into a new world even for an hour or two and we have the capabilities and budget to do it right, (if only we have the time and the space). Sorry tangent.

                Then there were three shows. I refuse to post mortem shows. I loved it, the cast was great, the set was fabulous and I learned so much from the experience. The one thing I would change is Berit hurting her foot and being MIA for the Sat. shows, but that’s life. There was a cast party…all records are sealed from said party.

                Again, thanks to the cast and crew, this was a tremendous experience and I love you all. This is close enough to my memories from the show, I’m sure they are more, but they would be just be incoherent and nonsensical. So, thank you and goodnight." 

~ director Clare Drobot

 

Everybody loves pacifiers!

more quotes:

 "magnanimous eating vagina, that eats peoples' hair"
(or something like that)

"It snowed on my brain."

"Why did she NOT call you tiger?"
 

"Someone should change the baby. It shit itself."

Adam is too "fwappity"

"I find most of the world, including horses, less worthwhile to speak to than horses"   note to Adam: "don't walk faster than the baby"

"But you do! you do die from pneumonia" This line from the show was perfect for painting on the fence in the cold snowy month of February