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THE CONCEPT
MARJORIE: Oh, look! I see something! An exit!
BERNIE: What's that sign say?
MARJORIE: "Middleton".
BERNIE: I didn't see it on the map. But I see an oasis. I'm going to stop.
And so it begins.
"Welcome to Middleton" is a show about a small town in the middle of Americana and the awful characters who inhabit it. Here we have the worst that America has to offer. Here you'll run into hack Mechanics, rude Bank Managers, disturbed artists and pretentious dancers.
You may have passed through this town on the way to somewhere else. You may have known someone from there in College. You may be from there, yourself. But eventually, everyone ends up in Middleton.
THE PROJECT
The idea started in late 2000 when Erik Engman came up with the idea one day. "Because of the unevenness that many sketch shows have, I wanted to do a show that had a similar theme in all of the sketches. I was intrigued with shows like The Simpsons and The League of Gentlemen which all took place in one town. Many locations, many characters, but one town". And thus, Middleton was born.
It just so happened that Erik's friend from Chicago, Mary DeVeny, was moving out here. So in early 2001 they started Shakespeare Cat Productions and the Lunatics, Lovers and Poets theater company specifically for this show. But that was the easy part. "We had to find a cast," explains Erik. "We decided on six people, three men and three women (including Mary and I), and we'd have everyone write everything. It was harder than I thought." With Mary and Erik on board, they had to find other people. Erik contacted people he knew from various places. Karen Rapelje and Brett Kucera he knew from teaching at Players Workshop West. Nicole Dolci he knew from their Groundlings class. Ben Hisoler was a friend of Nicole's, and he fit right in.
The other task was writing the show. "I wanted it to be an ensemble effort, but with the difficulty finding the cast, I ended up writing most of the show with help from Nicole and Mary. And, of course, poetry from Virginia," Erik adds with a grin. All of the material came from either real people, real attitudes or real incidents. Erik tells us the whole point of the show; "It's a fun exploration of the annoying habits of people. Yes, my annoying habits, included."
Erik is certain the show will be a success. "It was hard, but we did it. I'm very happy with all of the people in the show, and the show its self is just incredibly funny. I doubt anyone will be dissapointed."
The cast, as it stands now, is: Mary Deveny, Nicole Dolci, Erik Engman, Ben Hisoler, Brett Kucera and Karen Rapelje.
You can see the show at Improv Olympic West on May 23, 2001 at 7:30. And it's free!