Masquers Theater brings out 'The Nerd'

Rick Steadman (played by Len Schulmeister), the title character of the Masquers Theater's new production of "The Nerd," gets animated while talking to Cleo and Warnock Waldgrave (played by Sue LaMunyon and Buck Zickler) during play rehearsals Monday evening.

by Matthew Weaver<br>Herald Staff Writer
| April 14, 2004 9:00 PM

'Characters playing characters' makes for good community theater

The folks at Masquers Theater are eager to share how much fun they've been having.

Seems the cast of "The Nerd," the latest offering from the Soap Lake thespian troupe, have all worked together before on other shows.

That translates into a feeling of closeness and sense of community that will come across when the actors are on stage.

"It is absolutely true characters playing characters," said actor Len Schulmeister, who plays the title role. "It's an incredible cast and it's really just been a lot of fun rehearsing. Now it's kind of like to show off all that we've been playing around with. It's been a lot of fun; it's hard to believe it's actually a play."

Director Ken Greene, who also plays the role of Axel in the play, said "The Nerd" first came to his attention when lead actress Melissa Sloan showed him the script.

"I had heard of (playwright Larry Shue)," Sloan said. "I had seen one of his other plays before, so I read this one. (It is) equally as funny. I think everybody will find it funny. It's clever for people who get subtle jokes, but it's very funny for people who just like the slapstick jokes, too."

Greene said he wanted to do a comedy, and he called the play very time-driven and fast paced.

In the play, the doldrums that Willum Cubbert (played by Robert Barker) is going through in his life are thrown into a tailspin by the arrival of social misfit Rick Steadman (Schulmeister), who once saved Willum's life while they were both in the forest service. Willum feels duty-bound to tolerate Rick's lack of tact, despite the chaos it creates in his life.

"'The Nerd' is kind of a funny title for a play; they really should have named it, 'The Inappropriate House Guest From Hell Who Came and Never Went Away,'" Greene said. "The play kind of revolves around, 'Now that (Rick) is here, how do we get rid of him?'"

"I would have to say that this is a roller coaster ride of a play," Barker said. "It's exciting and it's a little farfetched in some areas, and it's non-stop laughing. We haven't been able to stop laughing yet."

Barker said that the key to mastering the play's timing has been memorization.

"Once you get in the groove, and we've all worked together before, you can kind of get a feel for each other's moods and their looks," he said. "The timing just seemed to flow together with all of us, so it works real well."

Schulmeister agreed.

"There's a lot of timing, there's a lot of exchange of words, props and movements that are critical with each other," he said. "So it's really a lot of choreographing that the audience will never be able to tell. But that's really been the work of it all — working with each other, saying just the right thing at the right time, stopping, moving and handing off some of the props."

Schulmeister said he looked at a lot of different films and characters in order to come up with his character, not wanting to be a typical nerd.

"So I will have some different aspects, probably more on the annoying side," he said.

"It's a very weak cast; I've had to do a lot of whipping, but somebody's got to do it," Greene deadpanned when asked how rehearsals are going. "But it's a great cast, very obedient. They're all people I've worked with before, they've all been in comedies before. They all have a great sense of timing, they all have great expressions. It's community theater at its best."

Art in the Masquers lobby will be by Fae (Drennan) DeFries.

The play will run at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays on April 16, 17, 23, 24, 30 and May 1. There will be a 4 p.m. Sunday matinee April 25 at half-price.

Tickets are $12 at the door, or call the box office for reservations at 246-2611.