Savage Wonder hosts Saturday night absurdities
The ploy each Saturday evening at Savage Wonder in Beacon is simple: Wind the eight actors up by handing them a script, let them rehearse for about five hours and turn them loose.
The resulting staged-reading performances take place every Saturday night for a month at the Main Street venue, a former bank. “The last performance is the most polished, but the first one is the most fun,” says Chris Meyer, its artistic director.
On Saturday (Aug. 9) and each week through Aug. 30, the company will present The Actor’s Nightmare, by Christopher Durang and directed by Meyer, along with six 10-minute comedies. Absurdist scenes include a corpse in conversation and a wedding catering menu that offers hand-clubbed baby seal, carpaccio of spotted owl and sashimi from the waters around Fukushima.
As Savage Wonder builds out 139-141 Main St., the basement is the only area open to the public. Music and theater performances are held at The Parlor, accessible through the 4,000-square-foot art gallery Savage Wonderground.
Formerly known as Vet/Rep (short for veterans repertory theater), Savage Wonder moved from Cornwall last year and plans to open two performance spaces and another bar/cafe upstairs. “We’ve never produced a show in August before,” says Meyer. “We always went dark. This year we figured, let’s see what Beacon brings.”
Next to the performance space is Grape Rebellion, a wine bar and eatery. Patrons can dine and drink while watching the performances.
In The Actor’s Nightmare, Cian Genaro portrays a befuddled accountant mistaken for an actor (who may also be a thespian having a bad day). He is thrust into a production that shifts from Beckett to Hamlet and A Man for All Seasons. Beheaded at the end, like Sir Thomas More, the actor/accountant lies motionless on the floor during the curtain call.
A short, “The Big Dark,” referencing hell, relates the fast-moving adventures of a mishmash of nymphs, satyrs and Greek gods as narrated by a hardboiled gumshoe (Dylan Crow). Kia Nicole Boyer laughed after gargling water to imitate a fountain. During a game of craps, a character rolled “Medusa eyes.”
In “Monkey Do,” the protagonist’s younger brother died from being strangled by a sock puppet — or an actual monkey; it’s ambiguous. Ana Anderson and Leeanne Hutchison heightened the hilarity, reflecting Meyer’s mantra to have fun, mix things up and “eat the dessert first,” he says.
The key to keeping a theater-like flow in the cozy Parlor space is the doorway to a utility room that fills in for backstage. Actors also enter and exit by walking through the house, which is filled with four couches, padded barstools and height-adjustable antique tables.
Three rows of lighting gear affixed to the ceiling add ambience to the performances. During “Hamlet in Hiding,” they simulate the police raid on a trio of bank robbers with Irish accents holed up in a theater.
The room’s mottled red, blue and yellow decor is adorned with portraits of Bob Ross, Shel Silverstein and Edgar Allan Poe. For readings this month, the action takes place along the far wall, but configurations are flexible, including in-the-round experiences where the stage stands mid-room, says Topher Kage, associate artistic director.
When hosting improv or standup comedy shows, the small stage is placed against one of the side walls. There are 25 chairs, and “pretty much everyone has a first- or second-row seat,” he says.
Tickets are $25 at savagewonder.org. The play performed on Saturdays in September will be “The Elephant Delivery,” by Bill Smith, along with six 10-minute comedies written by veterans. The Grape Rebellion is open from 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and noon to 10 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
