And Now For Something Completely Different

The adventures of Mr. Welch in the theatre!

So after that and brief stint in theatre of the absurd (in which I played a serial killing bird enthuasiast) I got a casting call from the Kingwood Community Theatre, version 3. Oedipus Rex, the tragedy. I get there and start reading lines and the director isn't listening. He's already cast the play with his friends. The casting call was required because the theatre demanded all plays be open calls, no troupes. He didn't care. He was some little rich kid who liked to play with daddy's money. Still, he offered me a job as a hand and being not rich, I took it.

To say this kid was overreaching was an understatement. He gave me and the other hands (seven all together) plans for a grandiose two tiered temple platform with moving parts and room for two dozen strippers. Yes strippers. He hired a bunch of strippers for the chorus. If strippers could act they'd be in porn but he had a thing for the girls at the local joint he attended and hired as many as he could. Mainly they just got in the way or tried to get us to see them. Back to the two tiered temple platform with moving parts though. We get bids from the local hardware and lumber stores on building this thing. A grand easy. The stage manager presented the director with the bill and the director scoffs. Seems he spent most of the money on hiring strippers. I'm probably exaggerating that, but not by much.

To make a long story short, the production failed.

Gosh. What a surprise.

The reason that this little misadventure had piqued my interest is that I've borrowed a bit of Oedipus Rex for my screenplay project. (The following has yet to be formally written into the script and is subject to revision.)

LISA

The Captain seemed to believe that you had become a central character from an ancient Hellenic tragedy. You know, the one where the character kills his father and rapes his mother.

DENNIS

Oh. I would never do that to Mom.

Or something like that...

Yes, Dennis killed his own father. This is going to have an impact on his long lost twin brother when he finds out...heeheehee...
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