UW alumnus Chris Will, who will perform with Jake Staley in “Stones in His Pockets”
June 25-29 at the UW Buchanan Center for Performing Arts (WWCC Photo)
The Snowy Range Summer Theatre continues with “Stones in His Pockets,” Marie Jones’ “riotously funny” (Associated Press) comedy about two Irish lads hoping to hit it big as movie extras.
Presented by the University of Wyoming Department of Theatre and Dance, and directed by John O’Hagan, “Stones in His Pockets” runs Tuesday, June 25, through Saturday, June 29, at 7:30 p.m. in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts (formerly Fine Arts Building) Studio Theatre. Tickets cost $10 for the public and $7 for students, senior citizens, and children over 5. Discounts are available for groups of 20 persons or more. For tickets and information, visit the Wyoming Union or Performing Arts box offices, call (307) 766-6666 or go online at www.uwyo.edu/finearts.
O’Hagan says he loved the show when he had seen it at Boise Contemporary Theatre and then again at Utah’s Shakespeare Festival. So, when colleague Chris Will suggested the play would be a fun project for them to do together, O’Hagan agreed.
“I like the play because it’s really uplifting, and it’s a tremendous amount of fun to work on as an actor because the characters that you get to play, and as a director, too, because I am working with two really wonderful performers,” O’Hagan says.
Winner of the 2001 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, and nominated for three Tony awards, “Stones in His Pockets” is a funny and poignant two-hander about a rural Irish village turned upside down by the arrival of an American film crew. Down-on-their-luck locals, Charlie and Jake, hope to hit it big when hired as extras for the big-budget movie filming in their County Kerry village, but soon discover that Hollywood’s romanticized Ireland stands in stark contrast to harsh reality.
“Stones in His Pockets” features guest actors and UW alumni Chris Will, assistant professor at Western Wyoming Community College, and Jake Staley, a New York-based performer, taking on more than a dozen eccentric characters, from the film’s spoiled American starlet to the star-struck locals.
“As an audience member, it’s really fun to watch that instantaneous change that happens from one character to the next, without any costume changes or fanfare, but just the actors inhabiting someone else moment to moment,” O’Hagan says.
“Stones in His Pockets” is produced by special arrangement with Paul Elliot, Adam Kenwright and Pat Moylan.
The Associated Press calls the play “inventive and riotously funny,” and The Express says it’s "a delight from beginning to end.”
