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PEOPLE BE HEARD - Playwrights Horizons
The World Premiere of a comedy with songs by Quincy Long(Shaker Heights, The Joy of
Going Somewhere Definite) Original Music by Michael Roth
Featuring Guy Boyd, Funda Duval, Dashiell Eaves, Annie Golden, Laura Heisler, Brian
Hutchison, Kathy Santen, Conrad John Schuck
Scenic Design Christine Jones, Costume Design Michelle R. Phillips,Lighting Design
Michael Lincoln
OK – I have really let the ball drop on this one. Partly because I didn’t know how to break the
news that the oxygen mix in the air s still off at Playwrights. And it gets tiresome to keep
saying “I didn’t like this because…”
Will this be the season that makes my face hurt all the time?\
I had hopes in the beginning as the school board met and burst into an a cappella version of the
pledge of allegiance that was fabulous. Then it settled down and downer. The story here is that
the school board needs a new member, and the alternate turns out to be an exotic dancer with a
body that is a 10 and a self-esteem level of inverse proportion. The question the board faces is:
should Creationism be taught along with evolution. Should people have freedom of choice in the
schools brought to you by your local Bible study group. In this story the exotic dancer casts
the deciding vote, gains self-esteem and teaches the board a thing or two about character.
Coulda shoulda woulda. Predictable but not too bad. But the playwright doesn’t take us on a
path we can follow. Bad songs and sequined thongs, a monster from outer space who give a
little boy the shakes, and a raging parent obsessed with his daughter’s virtue interrupt our
journey. And then the story swings back and forth, trying its best to focus on the exotic
dancer, which is too bad for two reasons: it’s the school board itself we could have used a
whole lot more of, and the dancer, as played by Ms Duval, is slightly less interesting then that
sequined thong.