Hesston College students stage several scenes from All in the Timing , six one-act comedies by David Ives, as they produce a video that is part of Hesston College’s production of the Ives script.
Time magazine called All in the Timing “Theatre that aerobicizes the brain and tickles the heart.” Hesston College Theatre Director Megan Tyner calls it “A lot of fun. It combines wit, intellect and satire for an enjoyable evening. Some of the humor is word play that adults will understand but each of the one acts has enough action to keep children’s attention, too. None runs longer than 20 minutes.”
The acts include the conversations of three monkeys typing into infinity with the hope of someday producing Hamlet; Dawn, a young woman with a stutter, and Don, the creator and teacher of a wild comic language, in a dazzling display of hysterical verbal pyrotechnics as Don teaches Dawn to speak Unamunda; and two people meeting in a cafe and finding their way through a conversational minefield as an offstage bell interrupts their false starts and gaffes on the way to falling in love.
The production has added a layer of multimedia that will contribute to the visual comedy. Each act starts with action on screen-video projected onto a screen that is part of the set. The actors enter the stage as they walk off screen in the projected video. “I’ve had the idea of having actors jump in and out of a screen for a while,” Tyner commented, “but this comedy presented the perfect way to utilize it. We’re all very excited to see it work!”
The show features sophomores Travis Duerksen (Canton, Kan.), Brooke Gugel (Wauseon, Ohio), Sam Kauffman (Surrey, N.D.), Matt Lehman (Kidron, Ohio), Geverton Ost (Porto Alegre, Brazil) and freshmen Clayton Bontrager (Harrisonburg, Va.), Jessica Davis (Newton, Kan.), Megan Leatherman (Hesston, Kan.), Solomon Rudy (Manheim, Pa.) and Anna Yoder (Garden City, Mo.).
Tyner rates the show “G.”
The Hesston College Theatre department will present All in the Timing, at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12, 13, 19 and 20 in the Studio Theater in Northlawn. Tickets ($9 for adults, $7 for students and senior citizens, $5 for children-younger than 5 are free) are available through the Hesston College Bookstore, 620-327-8105 or www.hesstonbooks.com. Tickets may also be purchased at the door a half hour before showtime, subject to availability.