D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
April
2008
Condensed Version
Playwright Tom Smith makes short work of the history of Las Cruces in a new production opening at the Black Box Theatre on April 4.
By Jeff Berg
You might think that playwright Tom Smith was brought up reading those awful Reader's Digest Condensed Books that were popular (or were they?) at one time. After all, he is about to embark on the third of an ongoing series of full-length plays that are "abridged" versions of history or literature.
 |
Silliness abounds in "The Complete
History of Las Cruces, Abridged," with actors Santino Jiminez, Michael
Anderson and Steve Conn re-creating the arrival of Don Oñate. |
The newest one, which may have local politicians and others of that ilk sweating a bit, will be "The Complete History of Las Cruces, Abridged." It opens on April 4 at Las Cruces' Black Box Theatre and runs through April 20.
"I was inspired by another theater group to start doing these," says Smith, who teaches theater arts at New Mexico State University. "This time, I thought it would be fun to have something more localized with a script to fit the content."
Smith's first stab at abridgement was "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)," which played at the Black Box in 2002. Ceil Herman, president and artistic director of the No Strings Theatre Company at the Black Box, offers that just over 1,000 theatergoers turned out for that production, an amazing figure for a venue that seats only 92 people per performance.
Mr. Shakespeare's works were pared down considerably — almost all of them being covered in a total of 100 minutes by three actors, Smith included. The trio frantically changed costumes and characters, playing all of Shakespeare's big names, including Romeo, Othello and Hamlet. The Bard would probably have been aghast if he'd seen his works adapted into a football game, a cooking show and a rap-music performance.
The second such work, "The Complete History of America (Abridged)," played in the summer of 2006, and drew a total of 777 patrons. Directed by Smith, the fast-paced history was written by and starred Michael Anderson, Darin Cabot and Matt Tompkins; Smith also did some of the minimalist props and some of the set work. The play covered 600 years of American history in 6,000 seconds, as noted by Joel Courtney, Las Cruces Bulletin arts editor. The piece parodied almost everything American, starting with the original settling by those who came here via what is now the Bering Strait. It wound up with the current leader of the free world, who was portrayed as a bat-eared dummy — the puppet kind, although the double entendre was clear. The cast also did a bit of freeform improvisation, via questions from the audience.
Although a less sweeping topic, "The Complete History of Las Cruces, Abridged" comes with its own unique challenges. "This one will be very irreverent, and we are a bit worried about making fun of someone whose relatives are in the audience," Smith says, in a winking sort of tone that suggests he's not too worried.
"The Complete History of Las Cruces, Abridged"Performances: Fridays, April 4, 11 and 18, at 8 p.m.; Saturdays, April 4, 12 and 19, at 8 p.m.; Sundays, April 13 and 20, at 2:30 p.m.; Thursday, April 17, at 7 p.m.There is a possibility it will extend to a fourth weekend (April 22-24).Also, the Sunday, April 6, performance is sold out to Friends of Branigan Library.Tickets are $10 regular, $9 students and seniors over 65 and all seats on Thursday are $7.Black Box Theatre, 430 N. Downtown Mall, 523-1223. |
"We're starting with the fossilized footprints that Jerry MacDonald found in 1987, and will take a look at how they may have come to be."
MacDonald is an amateur paleontologist who was the first to discover the prints which are scattered throughout the Robledo Mountains, just north of Las Cruces. It is rumored that some of the tracks lead to Las Cruces City Hall, with others heading north to Santa Fe.
From there, Smith says, "We'll be covering a couple of million years in 90 minutes. The cast of three will cover 30 characters, so we hope no one will be mad at us for being left out.
"We'll be covering the 20th and 21st centuries with a sort of Wagnerian Opera," he goes on, "and also taking shots at the number of school board superintendents that have passed through Las Cruces during the last few years."
Also on tap are humorous looks at the Las Cruces Sun-News, the city's oft-maligned daily paper, and in particular the paper's daily "Sound Off" column. "Sound Off," of course, gives an open forum for anyone with a phone or e-mail to anonymously share comments about Las Cruces' ongoing issues. Popular topics include Republicans, Democrats, local politics, fireworks, dog poop and many calls that include suggestions for newcomers to "go back to where they came from" if they don't like the sometimes-provincial lifestyle of New Mexico's second-biggest population center.
In between prepping this satire, Smith has also been busy with more serious works. He is a nationally recognized and award-winning playwright, and productions of some of his other works are currently being done in Wisconsin, Florida and Melbourne, Australia. He expresses disappointment, with a small laugh, at not being offered deluxe accommodations to and in Australia, to oversee the handling of his work there. Next he will be staging a reading of "On Clarion," a work by German-American playwright Lydia Stryk, scheduled for 8 p.m. on April 11 and 12 at NMSU's Hershel Zohn Theatre.
Possibly a perfect match for New Mexico, "On Clarion" is a dark comedy set in 1954. It follows a charismatic woman who gathers a small group of people to take the ultimate journey — off the face of the planet. Stryk's Web site notes, "This dark UFO comedy asks what we are capable of when existential fears and real destruction lead to yearnings for a better place."
As for "Las Cruces, Abridged," Smith says he hopes the play will be as current as possible. He even hints at script changes for breaking news events that might happen during the course of the play's run, along with a jab at that national icon, Britney Spears. Trying to be gentle, Smith adds that he has fears that "Britney" may get busted or "try to kill herself on opening night."
He wonders aloud, "Will we be able to live here after the show opens?"
Smith's lightly barbed sense of humor answers, "I hope so!"
Senior writer Jeff Berg profiled Tom Smith in our December 2004 issue.