Morticians in Love
Kathie Rasmussen Women's Theatre
Bartell Theatre 113 E. Mifflin St., Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Jonathan Raymond Popp
In a post-Valentine’s Day funk? The Kathy Rasmussen Women’s Theater’s production of Morticians in Love may be the antidote to the sugary sweetness of the holiday. This ultra-black comedy, written by Christi Stewart-Brown, features two rival morticians, an androgynous assistant and two good-looking corpses. Love and necrophilia are examined, so mature audiences only. ALSO: Saturday (8 pm), Sunday (4 pm), Wednesday and Thursday (8 pm), Feb. 25-March 2. Through March 4.
Morticians in Love by Christi Stewart-Brown, directed by Suzan Kurry
Cast: Mary Wallin and Bryan Royston as the morticians. Rowan Calyx as the androgynous assistant. Issaka Brellenthin and Joshua Paffel as the attractive corpses.
"Everybody should love death this much."
A shy mortuary owner and her assistant toil alone among the dead until a handsome rival mortician arrives who wants to share more than workspace. And two corpses make five. In those post-Valentine’s weeks of perhaps deflated romantic hopes, Krass offers a very dark comedy that finds the scalpel-sharp edge between unconditional love and unrequited love. “V-day is all but dead … flowers and chocolates, formaldehyde and chloroform. …” The play has no nudity, although the corpses will be scantily clad and the action includes adult sexual situations.
Praise for the play: "In the midst of death, there is life and love--sacred, profane, unrequited and almost always dysfunctional--in Christi Stewart-Brown's very black, five-character comedy (counting two corpses). Scarcely fare for the squeamish, with its excursions into heterosexual and homosexual couplings among the living and dead, the play nonetheless comes off as a caustic, funny, sharp-eyed autopsy on the difficulties of love...Morticians in Love may be morbid, but it has a heart." - The New York Times
"Christi Stewart-Brown's charmingly morbid comedy is so cheerful and upbeat, you'll hardly believe that you're watching a play about bisexual necrophilia." - Paul Birchall, Back Stage West
EIGHT PERFORMANCES (TWO MATINEES)
Friday, Feb 24 -- 8pm
Saturday, Feb 25 -- 8pm
Sunday Feb 26 -- 4pm MATINEE
Wednesday, Mar 1 -- 8pm (half price )
Thursday, March 2-- 8pm (2 tix for $30)
Friday, March 3 -- 8pm
Saturday, March 4 -- 4pm MATINEE and 8pm
TICKETS: $20