August 30 — Political satire both timeless and timely with “The President’s New Clothes”
Imagine Hans Christian Anderson writing about the current Bush Administration and you have IndyFringe’s “The President’s New Clothes”
When: Thursday August 30, 10: 30 PM
Where: Theatre on the Square Main Stage 627 Massachusetts Avenue Indianapolis
The President’s New Clothes, produced by Once Upon a Time…Once Upon a Mime, is a modern version of the Hans Christian Andersen tale about a ruler who is not only derelict in his duties but out of touch with his citizens as well. Always concerned about his image, he contracts with a crafty tailor to sew an invisible suit of clothes so that he can see which one of his advisors is a fool. By the time Election Day rolls around we find out who the joke is really on. Originally written during the Watergate Scandal, this political farce was performed during the Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan administrations. Deborah Langerman, a local mime and one of the co-founders of The United Mime Workers Theater Company, will be directing and producing an updated version of the well known fairy tale for this year’s IndyFringe festival. Originally produced for a Hans Christian Andersen Theater Festival in 1971, the piece was written as a spoof of the Nixon Administration in the midst of the Watergate Scandal. The well known story of a ruler determined to ignore the problems facing his country remained relevant during the presidencies of Ford, Carter and Reagan, and was performed for over 10 years in all sorts of venues before being retired when the United Mime Workers disbanded in 1985. The newest incarnation of the 30-minute play will include many parallels to the current administration in Washington, DC, and should provide plenty of laughs for the whole family during this election cycle. Not to be confused with classical white-faced mime, lots of costumes, props, music, and movement performed by a cast of infamous characters will round out this production of the classic tale.
Be interesting to see how this plays in a day when political satire such as “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” have emerges as important parts of the regular news business.
