Event

Laughter on the 23rd Floor

It was de besta times, it was de woista times. It was T.V.'s golden age. It was T.V.'s greatest shame. It was de oily '50s and a roomful of writers was puttin' togedda a weekly T.V. show dere. Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor takes us inside the crazy angry frightening competitive creative wonderful writer's room of an early '50s T.V. comedy variety show. The cast, faced with dropping ratings and red baiting try desperately to keep their jobs and maintain the show's high standards in the only way they know how -- by wisecracking their ways through the crisis. Max Shields, the star of the show, is a thinly disguised Sid Caesar, for whom Simon wrote in the 50s. In Laughter we follow Max's disintegration from exhaustion and alcohol as he tries to cope with interfering network executives who continually cut his budget, shorten his show and try to force him to "dumb down" the content. Under the constant belly laughs delivered by Max and his writers, exists a classicly tragic character whose fatal flaw is his loyalty to the crew of writers that make him look good. Simon uses the ensemble cast to revisit a time when people lived in fear. Each writer makes his or own personal journey in the confines and context of daily writing slams. Milt, the king of the one-line put down, who wears cowboy boots to Christmas parties and outrageous suits to work because he fears he's not as good as anyone else in the room. Stressing quantity over quality as his strength, Milt explains, "When Max laughs, my kids eat." Carol, the only woman on the staff, is 8 months pregnant. Yet, she explains that she has no desire to be known as a woman writer -- she wants to be known as a good writer -- even if she has to be one of the guys to do it. Each character in this Simon masterwork is lovingly drawn and viciously parodied.

Performed at the Janice B Streeter Theater @ Court Street Theatres in Nashua

April 26, 27 & 28 @ 8pm

April 28 & 29 @ 2pm