With roughly 3 1/2 weeks to pull something together, the El Dorado High School theatre department is nearly ready to present its spring production.
The high school is staging a trio of one-act plays, “The Actor’s Nightmare,” “Serial Killer Barbie,” and “Caution: Politricks.” The shows are loosely tied together by what director Drew Pakalski calls two of “the funniest things” to see on stage: death and politics.
“Caution:Politricks” by Alan Haehnel is a thinly veiled examination of two-party politics. Two opinionated and vociferous groups squabble over whether a mysterious object in the distance should be moved to the left or the right and soon lose sight of the object itself as they struggle to prove who’s right.
“It’s a discussion of misunderstanding,” Pakalski said. “It’s really funny. They’re arguing about nonsense, really.”
Christopher Durang’s “The Actor’s Nightmare” is an absurdist romp that features a confused “George,” who wanders accidentally onto a stage and is cast into several roles without any preparation. Between “Hamlet,“ Noel Coward’s “Private Lives,” Samuel Beckett’s “Checkmate,” and “A Man For All Seasons,” George’s confusion grows deeper until he can learn to embrace the madness.
“It’s very abstract,” Pakalski said. “It’s a lot more emotional and chaotic.”
The shortest of the three shows, “Serial Killer Barbie,” by Colette Freedman, a dark comedy featuring Cassandra, who’s spent her life trying to join the ranks of the popular Debbies. When the school’s hip trio won’t let her in, she decides she’d be better off just killing Debby, Debbie and Debbi.
Pakalski, who began teaching English at EHS this year, previously taught and directed at Bluestem High. Though school shows have been directed by Pete Henderson for the last few years, this production became available and Pakalski jumped on the chance to direct again.
“One day they came to me and said ‘Mr. Henderson’s not doing the show, can you put something together? Give me an answer tomorrow,’” Pakalski said with a laugh. “I always have a stash of things I’m interested in doing.”
He received his English and theatre degrees from Elm Hurst College in Chicago and got a teaching degree from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wisc. The son of an actress — who taught mime at a university — Pakalski has been around theatre most of his life.
With a cast comprised entirely of women (with the exception of a few male extras), some of the actors are inter-changed for each show. This band of actresses has decided to call themselves The Products of Feminine Theatre.
