Wexner Center Theater Season Starts with Major Bang

The Wexner Center’s theater season kicks off with the Obie Award-winning, New York-based Foundry Theatre and its satiric take on our collective anxieties in the age of terrorism, Major Bang Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Dirty Bomb A Suspense Comedy with Magic, on October 26—29. This whirlwind production wittily disarms our fears of the prospect of nuclear terrorism with an abundance of wit and wry humor. Part thriller, part magic show, part pop culture riff, this hilarious production “proves that laughter in the dark need not be desperate” (The New York Times). Tickets are $20 general public, $17 Wexner Center members, and $10 students, and available now at the Wexner Center (614 292-3535) and Ticketmaster (614 431-3600). $5 High Five tickets will also be available for middle and high school students in advance of the show.

DR. STRANGELOVE REVISITED

Produced by the Foundry Theatre and written by Kirk Lynn (of Texan ensemble Rude Mechanicals, creators of the stage adaptation of Greil Marcus’ Lipstick Traces, which was performed at the Wexner Center in 2002), Major Bang contemplates the dangerous and scary side of a backpack left behind on the subway. Updating the dark humor and nuclear paranoia of Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove for the present day, Major Bang takes a trip down the rabbit hole of post-9/11 anxiety. The show includes a surreal jaunt with Whitney Houston’s and Kevin Costner’s characters from the so-bad-it’s-almost-kind-of-good The Bodyguard; an appearance from Lenny Bruce (back from the dead and riffing on the war on terror); and the real life tale of the Boy Scout who tried to earn his Atomic Energy merit badge by building a nuclear device in his garage. Skilled Magician and actor Steve Cuiffo (last seen at the Wexner Center with The Wooster Group in North Atlantic in 2000) and comic counterpart Maggie Hoffman juggle multiple roles in this laugh-out-loud suspense thriller that the Village Voice called “a two-person amalgam of history primer, farce, and magic tricks that in 75 minutes makes a case for laughter trumping fundamentalism.”

RESIDENCY ACTIVITIES

While at the Wexner Center the Foundry Theatre will take part in a master class with students from The Ohio State University’s Department of Theatre. This opportunity is part of the Wexner Center’s ongoing commitment to serve the university community and to foster an exchange of ideas among visiting artists and students.

ABOUT THE FOUNDRY THEATRE

A producing organization, rather than a permanent ensemble, The Foundry Theatre creates productions have been critically recognized and honored with eight Obie Awards and three Drama Desk nominations for "Unique Theatrical Experience." Founded in 1994 by Producing Artistic Director Melanie Joseph and scholar Cornel West, The Foundry Theatre seeks to create a community of artists with new ideas for theatre by developing, commissioning, and touring plays that encourage audiences to explore and examine new and diverse fields of thought and to provoke discussion. In 2000 the Foundry was honored with the special Ross Wetzsteon Obie Award for its "overall contribution to Off- and Off-Off- Broadway Theatre." The Foundry Theatre also regularly hosts roundtables, town meetings and lectures that bring artists together with professionals from other fields to address new questions for our times.

EVENT SUPPORT

Major Bang is made possible by a grant from the National Performance Network’s Performance Residency Program.

Major contributors of the National Performance Network include the Doris Duke Charitble Foundation, Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency), Altria, and the Nathan Cummings Foundation. More information: www.npnweb.org

Major support for the Wexner Center’s 2006–07 performing arts season is generously provided by Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Columbus Foundation.

Significant contributions are also made by Altria Group, Inc., Morgan Stanley, and Nationwide Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Ohio Arts Council, the Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation, and Wexner Center members.

Preferred accommodations: The Blackwell Inn.

CALENDAR INFORMATION DESCRIPTION: Columbus debut of The Foundry Theatre’s Major Bang, a witty, satiric look at the anxiety and fear surrounding terrorism.

DATES: October 26–28 / 8 pm and October 29 / 2 pm.

LOCATION: Wexner Center Performance Space, 1871 North High Street at 15th Avenue at The Ohio State University. Parking in Ohio Union Garage just south.

TICKETS: $20 general public, $17 Wexner Center members, and $10 students. $5 High 5 tickets are available for middle and high-school students in advance of the show at the Wexner Center.

TICKET OUTLETS: Wexner Center Ticket Office (614 292-3535) and Ticketmaster (614 431- 3600) or Ticketmaster.com.

PUBLIC INFORMATION: wexarts.org or 614 292-3535