“I’m in the show and I can’t wait to see the finished product,” senior Alison Barker said referring to this semester’s Main Stage play, “My Son is Crazy…But Promising.”
The show premiers March 4, at 8 p.m. in Venable Theater and stars an ensemble cast of students from all four classes.
Barker has appeared in four Main Stage shows. Being a second semester senior, this one will be her last. “It’s a good show to go out on,” Barker said, “It’s been a blast to be in; I have had so much fun.” She plays Karen Russell, who is the Lottery Official and provides one of many humorous plot devises. “She is happy and bubbly,” she said about her character. “She has a lot of energy.”
Barker isn’t the only senior who is making their swan song in the play. Among the others is senior Ellen Rosati, who plays the aspiring and dimwitted actress Chi-Chi Vazoom. “She is dumber than a dead duck,” Rosati quoted director Doug Jenkins as saying. Rosati has appeared in five plays for Main Stage, and has worked with Jenkins once before in Blood Wedding.
Like Barker, Rosati is very excited for the play. “It’s definitely not something you’ve seen before,” she said. “It’s a farce, with insane things constantly happening.” The actual play is about Bud Granger (Jed Krivisky), who buys a hotel in Arizona specifically because it is very close to “The Lost Dutchman Mine,” where he believes he can find treasure.
The plot is full of other characters leading several other side plots, including his mother Tilly (Megan Zaremba) arriving. A John Wayne obsessed local Sheriff (Michael Barry), and other colorful characters, such as Oysters Rockefeller (Joshua Smith) and Demetri (Ben Leahy).
The show is a comedy, but according to Rosati, when the cast gets on stage, it’s all business. “There is a good amount of joking, but we take it seriously on stage,” she said.
“Doug is very big into the ‘we are a family’ thing, no one is any more important than anyone else,” Barker said. “We try to live by it.”
The play premiers on Wednesday, March 4, and has four shows, until Saturday, March 7. The show starts at 8 p.m., and tickets are $2 each. For reservations, call (413) 662-5123 or dial ext. 5123.
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