Theatre group-in-transition Goats & Monkeys has announced its next free evening. Something of a departure from its usual Shakespeare fare, the 8pm Goats & Monkeys get together on February 12th will feature readings from contemporary playwright David Ives’ All In The Timing. It’s a program of comic shorts by the Chicago-based author of Polish Joke. Some time ago, the Sunset Playhouse staged a memorable production of the shorts. Goats & Monkeys stages a reading of the 3 of the shorts from the series at the Live Artist’s Studio on 221 South 1st Street.
The shorts will be scattered throughout the evening between 8 and 10pm. Ives’ All In The Timing has a number of really clever bits. The obvious choice for the Shakespearian group is Words, Words, Words-- a skit featuring three monkeys sitting at typewriters discussing the work they’re doing . . . the monkeys on typewriters cranking out Hamlet thing . . . the other two shorts on the evening could be anything. Some of the shorts would work better in a staged reading format than others. Variations on the Death of Leon Trotsky is fun. As is Philip Glass Buys A Loaf of Bread. One of my favorites in the program has to be The Universal Languagea man and a woman fall in love at a class for the Ives-created language of Unamunda. The other really memorable short from the program was The Philadelphiaa gentleman is “having a Philadelphia”a point in his life where he gets the opposite of everything he asks for. Cute.
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The reading is being presented free of charge with reservations strongly suggested. Reservations can be made by emailing a request to: reservations@goatsandmonkeys.org
