The main characters of the play are George and Maggie Antrobus, their two children, Henry and Gladys, and Sabina, who appears as the family’s maid in the first and third acts, and as a beauty queen temptress in the second act. The play’s action takes place in a modern setting, but is full of anachronisms reaching back to prehistoric times. The characters’ roles as archetypes are emphasized by their identification with Biblical and classical personalities. While the Antrobus family remains constant throughout the play, the three acts do not form a continuous narrative. The first act takes place during an impending ice age, in the second act takes place on the boardwalk and the family circumstances have changed as George becomes president of the Fraternal Order of Mammals (apparent references to Sodom and Gommorah but also to the Roaring Twenties) and the end of the world approaches a second time; the third act opens with Maggie and Gladys emerging from a bunker at the end of a seven-year-long war. An additional layer of stylistic complexity is added by the occasional interruption of the narrative scene by actors directly addressing the audience. For instance, in the first scene, the actress playing Sabina reveals her misgivings to the audience about the play, in the second act she refuses to say lines in the play and tells the spectators things that cause a woman in the audience to run from the theatre sobbing, and, in the third act, the “stage manager” of the play interrupts to announce that several actors have taken ill.

PERFORMANCE DATES: October 17 – November 10, 1990

CAST: Announcer/Professor/Conveener/Defeated Official/Broadcast Official – Ken Pervenanze, Sabina – Michelle Drenth, Mr. Fitzpatrick – Doug Austen, Mrs. Antrobus – Jeanette Magouirk, Dinosaur – Haley Ross, Mammoth – Robin Magouirk, Telegraph Boy/Conveener – Jared Adams, Gladys – Joy Adams, Henry – Jason Hart, Mr. Antrobus – Kelly Carroll, Doctor/Conveener – Michael Hall, Judge/Conveener – Barry Metcalf, Miss E. Muse/Boardwalk Resident/Hester – Joanne Welchel, Miss T. Muse/Conveenette/Ivy – Jill AUsten, Miss M. Muse/Conveenette – Kara Lay, Fortune Teller – Sarah Simpson, Mr. Tremayne – Mike Hanseon, Fred Bailey – Keith Reimer

CREW: Director – Don Steele, Stage Manager – Doug Austen, Assistant Stage Manager – Mike Hanseon, Light Board Operator/Set Design – Lyn Yost, Sound Design/Set Design – Keith Reimer, Hair/Make up – Johnny Martinez, Costume Design – Joanne Welchel, Dee Miller, Jean Lantis, Set Design – Rich Sternadori, Greg Smith, Darleen Clifton Smith, Claudia Finley, Jim Brown, Greg White, Curtis Crosley, Courtney Simpson, Michelle Drenth, Sarah Simpson, Chris Pyle, Barry Metcalf

MENU: Coleslaw salad, grilled pork chops, baked beans scalloped potatoes, bread, pumpkin tarts.  Catering provided by Faye Trent, Brona Love, Barbara Woodall, Deb Aistrup, Darleen Smith, Becky Matticks, Millie White, Stacy Cross, Pat King, Claudia Finley, members of the Company.

Gallery