By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
Warning: This show is for mature audiences only.
That warning has been broadcast loud and clear this summer by the Haylofters, as the non-profit community theater has taken a chance to do a show that’s a bit … risqué.
In what cast member Micah Gebel called a cross between Sesame Street and South Park, the Haylofters decided to go off the beaten track to “Avenue Q” this summer.
The hit Broadway musical deals with everything from homosexuality to racism to discrimination to everyday life consequences, and does it with a wicked wit.
“We have been very frank with the community,” said director Jennie King about the adult nature of the show. “I’m hoping that the community will come out and support it.
“I think it’s important to be on the cutting edge of theater, and ‘Avenue Q’ definitely qualifies as cutting edge,” she added, pointing out that the show speaks to a cultural climate and appeals to many generations.
The show opens this Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Malt House Theater in Burlington, 109 N. Main St., Burlington.
Show dates are July 14 to 17, 21 to 24 and 28 to 31, with Thursday through Saturday shows at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15, and are available online at thehaylofters.com (with a service fee) or at The Coffee House at Chestnut and Pine, 492 N. Pine St.
The show deals head-on with real-life issues, but with the use of humor and puppets. The majority of the characters have at least one puppeteer and sometimes two, and there are a handful of “human” characters. But the puppeteers are also in full-view of the audience throughout the show.
The theater, per rules, has to define that there is no connection between “Avenue Q” and the Jim Henson Company or the Sesame Workshop – “which have no responsibility for its content,” the Haylofters website warns – but the show does have its similarities to the famous PBS children’s series.
The two main characters – Kate Monster (played by Sheri Warren) and Princeton (played by Colin May) – end up the two corner tenants in an apartment complex. The two strike up a relationship, that results in the on-stage culmination of a night out at a club.
“Yes, there is puppet sex on stage and a lot of profanity and foul language,” King said. The two also get a little help from the “Bad Idea Bears,” Kait Muehlhans and Julie Patten.
There are two male roommates in Rod (played and puppeteer’ed by Jesse Hurst) and Nicky (Gabriel King) that bear more than a little resemblance to Bert and Ernie, and Trekkie Monster (Aidan King) tends to sound a bit like the cookie-devouring hero of a certain children’s program.
The apartment complex’s superintendent is the one and only Gary Coleman, who is portrayed by Gebel.
Other puppeteers are Kennedy Bunker (Nicky’s right hand), Megan Schroeder as Lucy, Chris Warren as the second puppeteer of Trekkie Monster and Megan Wojtak as Mrs. Thistletwat.
The two human characters of Christmas Eve and Brian are played by Grace Caringello and Moses Crist, respectively.
The show is famous for its blunt musical numbers, which include “The Internet is for Porn” and “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist,” and generally works hard to show that the world takes itself a little too seriously sometimes.
“It’s teaching tolerance for all,” King said. “It’s really more teaching about tolerance and not to take ourselves too seriously.
“Everyone should be able to address people where they’re at and accept people where they’re at,” she added. Everybody can find a peaceful place to co-exist.”
But in addition to entertaining an audience, the show also means a lot to those performing it. King had about 30 people auditioning for the 14 parts, including Muehlhans, who told King, “This show is my spirit animal.”
Gebel feels much the same way.
“Like theater, ‘Avenue Q’ means family to me,” she said. “When you participate in a theater production, the cast and crew becomes your second family. Everyone is so supportive and kind, it’s a great feeling arriving on ‘the avenue.’”
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