Audiences will enjoy a wickedly bizarre, funny and thought-provoking production when YoungLiars presents “Whammy! The Seven Secrets to a Sane Self,” that will open Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Xfest’s 10th anniversary. “Whammy!” Xfest’s inaugural production will be on stage at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 9 in SIUE’s Metcalf Theater.
“‘Whammy!’ is a madcap dance-theatre extravaganza, where we take a look at the agony and the ecstasy of ‘self-help,’” said Professor Chuck Harper, MFA, Xfest artistic director and Department of Theater and Dance (DOTD) chair. Harper is YoungLiars co-artistic director with SIUE alumna Maggie Conroy. Conroy earned a bachelor’s in theater and dance from SIUE in 2010.
“We performed ‘Whammy!’ at Xfest in 2010,” recalled Harper. “We are returning to the stage, re-imagined, re-cast and featuring SIUE Theater and Dance alumni and faculty.”
Joining the original “Whammy” cast of Conroy and English Language and Literature Emeritus Professor Jeffrey Skoblow, PhD, are Frankie Ferrari, Michael Cassidy Flynn, Keating and Gabe Taylor.
“Part 1960s dance party and part Nietzschean nightmare, ‘Whammy!’ prods and probes the American fever dream where Dr. Phil, Diazepam and daily affirmations crash headlong into self-medication, suicide and The Shirelles,” said Harper.
Harper and Conroy started YoungLiars in 2016 after some theatrical frustration and angst.
“YoungLiars came about after many conversations between Maggie and myself,” explained Harper. “We were frustrated that there was so little of the alternative and experimental theater that we love in St. Louis. Then ERA Theater popped up. Their work and the sheer number of productions that they were able to produce in a relatively short time blew us away. Their work really inspired us to get out there and start making the kind of theater we wanted to see.”
The young dance theater company has enjoyed successes and recognition since its inception. YoungLiars received critical acclaim for its production of “Titus Androgynous.”
“Last year, we took Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, and redid it as a comedy farce,” said Harper.
YoungLiars also received best scenic design award from the St. Louis Theater Critic Circle for its presentation of “Burrow,” a short story originally written by Franz Kafka.
“We adapted this story as a one-person show with strange twists and turns,” noted Harper.
General admission for “Whammy!” is $15 for adults 18 and over, $12 for seniors and non-SIUE students and free for SIUE students. Group rates available
Tickets may be purchased by calling 618-650-2774 or in person at the Box Office, Dunham Hall, room 1042b.
YoungLiars is a loosely knit collective of like-minded artists committed to creating unique inter-disciplinary theater performance, including both original works and radically entertaining re-imagining of the classics. We believe that magic is created through the fusion of different art forms and that bold simple theatricality will set hearts and minds on fire. We believe that the theatrical experience is richer and deeper than simple voyeurism, and audiences, now more than ever, crave engagement and involvement, and want to be challenged rather than placated.
Photos:
Part of the cast of “Whammy!” includes (L-R right top row) Gabe Taylor and Keating, (L-R bottom row) Maggie Conroy and Jeff Skoblow.
Prof. Chuck Harper, MFA, Xfest artistic director and Department of Theater and Dance (DOTD) chair. Harper is YoungLiars co-artistic director with SIUE alumna Maggie Conroy.