Judging from what’s available on his website, self-described neologist Nicholas Cialdini is a prolific playwright with a charming sense of humor. His work plays with intellectual pop culture in a refreshingly innovative way. I say this without having seen any of his stuff actually staged, but that will soon be rectified, as Cialdini has a show opening here in Milwaukee. While we won’t get such gems mentioned on his website as The Excessist, Rebel Without A Boss, Chakra Kahn, 1-900-CAMUS or even I’m Not Gay, the Chicago-based playwrights home town will get a staging of a piece of his entitled Boomtown: The Baby Boomer’s Guide To Squandering A Century. Written with fellow Milwaukee native and Second City writer Kristina Felske, the synopsis of the show reads like a decompression of Boomer-generation psychic energy. Ahem:
“Global financial collapse. Environmental havoc. American Politics. It doesn't sound funny but the Baby Boomers left quite a legacy... and a lot of material. We may not undo the damage but we can finally start to laugh at it.”
A series of sketches about the legacy of the boomers sounds interesting. The show will hopefully be a fun and enjoyable dissection of a generation in sketch and songfeaturing music by Joe Hite of the Centanni piano bar.
Alchemist Theatre’s production of Boomtown runs July 15th through 22nd.
