September 18, 2005
Warren Gerds
3 1/2 (out of 4 stars)
DE PERE — The new Venture Theatre provides a feisty alternative to playgoing with “Get Down(sized!),” its first homegrown play aimed at adults.
The fast-paced, 75-minute show teases life in a corporate setting. But it’s not a true lampoon or a satire. The show is so ridiculous, so out of touch with reality, that audiences will recognize it for what it is: A jolly romp of theatricality.
Written by Mike Eserkaln (who directs), Laura Riddle and Tim Stoltenberg, “Get Down(sized!)” is a series of situations that could (not) take place in an office.
None of the actors on stage speaks, as such. The audience hears Muzak and music, intercom messages and, in one fabulous scene, voices from a training video.
To set up that last bit, sexual shenanigans are at such a level that management steps in and has everyone watch “Are You a Pervert?” Mouthing words of wooden, fakey characters, the performers play out sassy scenes that the “video” intends to help employees identify perversion and take courses of (in)action.
Other high points of creativity: Co-workers get into making music with phone tones and end up competing, as in “Dueling Banjos;” the company dreams up a new policy for disciplinary action, which is retroactive; a box marked “Confidential” leads a nosey guy way, way astray.
Zipping through the sequence of scenes are Eserkaln, Peter Blavat, Justina Cegelski, Katie Guzak and Matt Worzala. They’re all nimbly comedic.
Performances are on weekends in a 60-seat theater. Under the same roof in the former De Pere Library building, improv comedy of the ComedyCity troupe take place at the same time.
Two theaters, one building, side-by-side performances: It’s a new concept for this area.
The ComedyCity/Venture Theatre idea moves live performance up a notch here.
“Get Down(sized!)”: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday through Oct. 22 at Venture Theatre/ComedyCity, 380 Main Ave., De Pere. $12 adults, $10 students. (920) 983-0966. Note: Suggestive situations.
