WCT - COMMEDIA

When I first started working with the  WICHITA COMMUNITY THEATRE  my first experience with this troupe was their summer COMMEDIA review. Wichita was a "Dry" town in the 1980's. This meant that you could'nt just walk into a bar or restaurant and order a drink, as selling liquor by the drink was illegal.

There were many interesting ways of getting around this, of course. If you frequented an establishment for example you could legally buy your own bottle of booze, the bartender would label it with your name, and then he or she could serve you a drink from your own...with a heafty set-up fee attached for the coke, sprite or water that was added to the mixed drink.

Since WCT was a tax exempt organization the rules were a bit different. They could serve you your set-up legally for the appropriate fee, and you could carry your own bottle of booze into the Workshop with you and "serve yourself" so to speak......Fun Days!

The upshoot was a great fund-raising event for the Theatre and a Jolly Good Time for the rest of Wichita. The review would be a mix of political satire, both National and Local, and good old-fashioned burlesque routines.

Up until I started working there the COMMEDIA setting was VERY sparse and low - key. I convinced MARY JANE TEALL to allow me to add a spot of color by re-designing the Stage Header, Blackout Board ( actors popped up from behind this for short "Laugh-In" style blackout sketches) and the two ( Count Em!) two Bars in the lobbys.

These are my initial sketches for the COMMEDIA Re-Design...