“Present Laughter,” a naughty, raucous but refined British farce, opens Friday at the Hartung Theater at the University of Idaho in Moscow.
In the play, a self-obsessed actor undergoing a midlife crisis juggles a fawning ingénue, a crazed playwright, his ex-wife and the personal lives of his eccentric friends. It is directed by Craig A. Miller, UI assistant professor of acting and directing. Miller began teaching at UI last fall and was previously artistic director at the 6th Street Playhouse in Santa Rosa, Calif. The show features 10 UI students and Nancy Lee-Painter, a UI alum and theater professor at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston. The play was written in 1939 by Noel Coward, who was instructed by Winston Churchill to write something that would entertain the troops during World War II.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: “Present Laughter”
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday (March 1), Saturday (March 2) and March 7-9; 2 p.m. Saturday, Sunday (March 2-3) and March 10
WHERE: University of Idaho Hartung Theater, 625 Stadium Dr., Moscow
COST: $5 to $15 general admission, free for UI students. All 2 p.m. matinees are pay what you can.
TICKETS: At the door or in advance at BookPeople of Moscow or the Department of Theatre Arts at (208) 885-6465.
