Seeking Volunteers for “The School for Lies”
Friends of the Village Players,
We need volunteers for our third show of our 73rd season: The School For Lies!!
The School For Lies opened in 2011 as an adaptation of The Misanthrope or, as the playwright David Ives puts it, kind of a sequel with similar plot points set in 1666 but with more raw and modern rhymes. “[In theatrical realism] words aren’t interesting, only the emotional current within them. Verse is more concentrated, more pleasurable than naturalism. It’s better in the way that Shakespeare is better than O’Neill. If the emotional current is the same, the verse adds something more: puns, music and intensified feelings.”
Synopsis
Adapted from Le Misanthrope by Molière. It’s 1666 and the brightest, wittiest salon in Paris is that of Celimene, a beautiful young widow so known for her satiric tongue she’s being sued for it. Surrounded by shallow suitors, whom she lives off of without surrendering to, Celimene has managed to evade love since her beloved husband died—until today, when Frank appears. A traveler from England known for his own coruscating wit and acidic misanthropy, Frank turns Celimene’s world upside-down, taking on her suitors, matching her barb for barb, and teaching her how to live again. (Never mind that their love affair has been engineered by a couple of well-placed lies.) This wild farce of furious tempo and stunning verbal display, all in very contemporary couplets, runs variations on Molière’s The Misanthrope, which inspired it.
The show is directed by Allison Schrader (Arsenic and Old Lace), assisted by Steven J. Niles (AD. Sex Lies & Fish), and produced by Ashley Lora-Lee.
Show dates are March 13, 14, 20, 21, 27, 28 at 8pm with two Sunday matinees held on March 15 and 22 at 2pm.
Please email Production@thevillageplayers.com with which date/position you’d like.
How To Get Involved
We will need up to 5 people per show (2 for lobby/concessions, 1 for 50/50, and 2 for Box Office). No experience is necessary for most positions; we will let you know what you need to do if you volunteer. Please arrive one hour before showtime.
Here are the basic descriptions of your responsibilities should you wish to volunteer:
Lobby/Concessions
If you’ve never volunteered before, ask anyone backstage to point you towards the stage manager. They can get you started on your first duty of preparing the coffee. Otherwise, feel free to get started on your own. The coffee should be ready by 7:30/1:30 when doors open. You will be given programs to hand out to the audience as they enter the theater.
50/50
You should be in the lobby as doors open to the public. You should actively engage with our patrons and encourage them to purchase 50/50 tickets. They, of course, have a chance to win half the pot. The other half is always appreciated and goes to very good use in helping maintain our theater. During intermission, you will do the same in the lobby and then also walk around to all the seats for one last attempt before picking the winning ticket at the end of intermission.
Box Office
You will be responsible for receiving payment and handing out tickets.
Take a look at the volunteer spreadsheet. Click the link to see what dates/positions have been taken and which one(s) you want.
Please email Production@thevillageplayers.com with which date/position you’d like.
Thanks for all of your help in the past, present, and future!