Commons to host Sam Shepard comedy
There is certain to be plenty of laughs and smiles the first week in March, as The Commons in Viroqua, Wisconsin hosts Sam Shepard’s black comedy, A Lie of the Mind.
Considered a landmark play filled with enormous vitality, and humor, Shepard explores the destinies of two families, that are linked by marriage but see their differences by jealousies and distrust, that ultimately probe into the human heart, and the destructiveness which it can give rise to.
The comedy will include The Players; Sara Tedeschi, Adam Stanton, Cassidy Coulsson, Dylan Harris, Steven Laurdan, Cele Wolf, Callahan Mayer and Colin Thelen.
“We are so happy to have Colin join us,” says director K O’Brien. “He was in A Streetcar Named Desire with Sara and agreed to come to Viroqua to check out what we do in our little world. He brings a professional energy that ups our game and skill level.
The Players have had to travel quite a route to get to the Commons stage. In 2018 they gathered to write the radio drama, Onomatopoeia (heard on WDRT the third Sunday of each month at 7:00). Their space was the Congregational Church in Gays Mills, which was then lost to the floods of 2018. The Players moved to the Underground at the Fortney where they performed cabarets and readings. A Lie of the Mind was to be presented in the Underground in Oct. 2019 but two weeks before the opening they lost one of their actors and the show had to be postponed. The Players regrouped and started rehearsing again only to have the Fortney building sold and the Underground theater closed. Space was found at the Commons and the show is back on track, better than before.
“This is my third Sam Shepard play,” says O’Brien. “His plays are darkly hilarious and we are playing it for the comedy.” A Lie of the Mind is about two dysfunctional families who are bound together by an abusive relationship. Both families have to come to grips with the fact that their lives will never be what they expected them to be. They tell themselves lies in order to keep going, instead of confronting the truths of their lives. Through this play the audience witnesses the absurdity of families struggling to find their own personal peace. Even a dysfunctional family seems better than no family at all. Shepard leaves the audience with plenty to talk about after the play. “Shepard’s plays stick to your bones, they get in your marrow,” says O’Brien.
The Players are hoping to launch a new theater company that encompasses the many talented people of Viroqua who can work together to provide a season of quality theater. “This is our therapy and it heals us,” says O’Brien. “We have laughed so much at this tragedy and it creates empathy for the characters. This world needs more empathy.”
The building The Commons calls home, was built in 1897 and originally housed the Congregational Church. This historic building on the corner of North Washington and East Jefferson streets in Viroqua, Wisconsin, has evolved over its 123-year history and has been home to a few different congregations over the years. Most recently the building serves as a type of art mecca.
Sam Shepard’s black comedy, A Lie of the Mind, will be performed at the Commons (401 East Jefferson St. in Viroqua), on March 5th-8th. Evening shows are at 7:30 pm, with a Sunday matinee at 2:00pm. Tickets cost $12 and no reservations.
Editor’s note: This article was submitted by The Commons and added to by Driftless Now.
For more information on the commons, visit them on Facebook or at www.thearkviroqua.org/.
Read Driftlesss Now’s previous article on The Commons.
