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Performance dates: November 6, 7, 8- 8pm Performance venue: Linesight Theatre
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WANDA JUNE ''Happy Birthday,
Wanda June'' was written by acclaimed author Kurt Vonnegut in 1970. Its
original staging, featuring Kevin McCarthy, Marsha Mason, and William
Hickey, was originally produced off-Broadway at the de Lys Theatre in
New York, before moving uptown to the Edison Theater. A film version was
released in 1971, starring Rod Steiger and Susannah York. Now, Theatre
on Consignment began its third season with a production of this wonderful
(but rarely seen) Vonnegut comedy. Harold Ryan (Bill
Stengel) is a Hemingway-styled hunter and explorer who disappeared in
1962 while on an expedition to the Amazon rain forest with his sidekick
Looseleaf Harper (David Bailey), the pilot who dropped the atomic bomb
on Nagasaki. Finally resigned to her husband’s death after eight
years, Penelope Ryan (Jamie Dorfman) and her twelve-year-old son Paul
(Jerry Miller) resume their lives in their Manhattan penthouse apartment
where Penelope is being courted by two suitors, peace-loving Dr. Norbert
Woodly (Robert Thomas) and hawkish vacuum cleaner salesman Herb Shuttle
(Trevor Ruder). When Harold unexpectedly walks in the front door one night
in 1970 (with Harper in tow), he expects life to simply pick up where
it left off. He is appalled to discover that his wife and the world at
large have changed considerably in his absence. Mac Welch, Krya Hagan,
and Renee Purtee co-starred for director Nate Cadman. Meridith Jones was
assistant director and production stage manager, Herb Nelson was sound
designer and sound board operator, Dan Williams was scenic designer, and
Britney Barnes and Carrie Beuttner were costumes designers. Nathan Boren
was master electrician and Jason Bailey produced. Theatre On Consignment’s production of “Happy Birthday, Wanda June” was performed November 6, 7, and 8 at 8pm and November 9 at 2pm in the Linesight Theatre.
See production stills from Happy Birthday, Wanda June.
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