RIPE Theatre presents
Mammoth Under the Bathmat
Next Stage Theatre
Thursdays-Saturdays, January 9-25, 2003Ripe Theatre explores the risks involved in concealing and revealing secrets.
(SAN FRANCISCIO) In the year of 2002, the American public was bombarded by the truth, or rather the uncovering of the “truth” in the media. Whether it was an energy conglomerate or the Catholic Church, a Congressman or a suburban housewife, secrets they had been working so hard to tuck away were blown wide open for all the world to see. What happens to people when their secrets are exposed? What lengths will people go to try and keep them hidden? And why do some people have to divulge secrets the moment their hear them?
In Mammoth Under the Bathmat, Ripe Theatre explores the intrigue, passion, and sometimes pain behind the concealing and revealing of secrets. Five actors will take the stage to perform a collection of original, dark-comic “short plays,” playing a wide range of characters (from a popular suburban teenage to new age religious gurus) who all have something to hide. Each of the nine theatrical pieces contains poignant themes, identifiable characters, and solid throughlines.
In one piece two friends withhold information that undeniably affects the other. However, a children’s word game that they frequently play forces each of them to reveal the truth, no matter how hard they try to avoid doing so. Another short play called “Hairy” features a Long Island housewife who exposes everyone’s secrets – including details that are socially inappropriate to reveal – while getting her hair done by a novice stylist at a high end salon.
The pieces in Mammoth Under the Bathmat not only address the ways in which we maintain our privacy, what we choose to hold private, and why, but also the assumptions we make about what others do reveal. A bike messenger and an attorney meet in “10:23 a.m.” and find that their assumptions about the other are surprisingly inaccurate. People make judgements about others all of the time – by the way they dress, how they walk, the people they choose to surround themselves with. But the “truth” is not always what you would expect. The surprising plots twists and unexpected character developments will surely give the audiences of Mammoth Under the Bathmat a first hand experience in learning that the truth isn’t always as it appears to be.
FOR CALENDAR EDITORS:
WHAT: Ripe Theatre’s world premiere of Mammoth Under the Bathmat is a collection of original shorts exposing the hidden truths that lie beneath. Pat Craig of the Contra Costa Times calls Ripe Theatre “versatile performers, with a good sense of comic timing and wonderfully expressive physicality.”
WHO: Performers include Gabrielle Fisher, Noah Kelly, Sarah McKereghan, Peter Parish, and Deborah Wade.
WHEN: Thursdays-Saturdays, January 9-25, 2003.
SHOWTIMES: 8:00 p.m.
WHERE: Next Stage, 1620 Gough Street (at Bush)
TICKETS: Tickets cost $15-20, sliding scale.