Verge Theater is back and opening its 2016-2017 season in September with one of the finest and funniest plays of Sarah Ruhl’s provocative and quirky collection. The Clean House can be somewhat defined by its setting—“A metaphysical Connecticut. Or, a house that is not far from the city and not far from the sea.” And so we move forward into a hilarious and not quite so absurd class study where money be damned because life is really about whether or not you can tell (or at least laugh at) a good joke. Lane is a driven American doctor. She and her recently estranged husband Charles (a surgeon) have hired Matilde to clean their house, but Windex and feather dusters depress Matilde. After all, she feels like she was born for something better…like telling the perfect joke!
Fortunately for her, Lane’s sister, Virginia, respects the accretion of dust and the transcendence of mildew and offers to clean the house for Matilde on the sly. If it isn’t weird enough yet, Charles has fallen in love with one of his patients and is determined to save her by trekking to Alaska in search of a tree that cures cancer, leaving Lane with no husband, a housekeeper who doesn’t keep house, a neurotic sister, and her rival in love who is dying. Director Todd Hoberecht will deftly guide the audience through this seemingly mad world opening on September 16th and running on Fridays and Saturdays through October 1st. All shows begin promptly at 8pm at Verge Theater. Reservations are $14 and are available at www.vergetheater.com/. Recover from your weekend with Improv Comedy! Join in as the Verge players offer up a Monday Night sacrifice of the most daring, death defying type of live theater there is: Improv! They call it Improv on the Verge! Improv Monday Nights feature The Bozeman Improverts who will beguile you with their laser-like wits, sharp tongues, and obnoxiously large heads. These masterful, main stage players improvise sketches built around audience suggestions, play improv games similar to those you see on Who’s Line Is It Anyway?, and perform long form improv that is basically making up short plays on the spot. You have to experience this to believe it!! It’s a mere $7 to get in and laugh like hell at their team of S.W.A.T. trained Improv Players. (S.W.A.T. = SouthWest Alternative Theater). The first show of the season falls on Monday September, 19th. Shows begin at 7pm, and reservations can be made online at www.vergetheater.com/ or in person at Cactus Records in Downtown Bozeman.
September opens the first session of Verge’s Educational Wing with classes for kids, teens, and adults! Grades K–5 can express their inner Broadway star with Musical Theater, or crack up themselves and their friends by learning Comedy Improv. Classes run on Saturdays from September 17th–November 12th. Each class is $120, or you can enroll in both for $200. Teen Theater is a fun and inspiring after-school program that is perfect for your creative teen. Teens will take part in the entire production process of Once Upon A Mattress which begins on September 12th and culminates in several performances on the Main Stage in November. Teen Theater is for grades 6-12 and costs only $175. The Adult Improvisation Classes are based in a 5 Level, tiered curriculum, each class building on the previous. After completing the introductory class, participants get a chance to hone their skills in the subsequent higher level classes. Level one starts on September 11th and runs on Sundays from 7–8:30pm for 9 weeks. For previous students, Verge is also offering Level 2 and Level 3 this session. Level 2 begins on September 13th and runs on Tuesdays from 7–9pm for 9 weeks, and Level 3 begins on September 11th and runs on Sundays from 5–7pm for 9 weeks. Level 1 costs $175 and Levels 2 and 3 cost $200.
For more information about any Verge shows or classes, please visit www.vergetheater.com/. Verge Theater is located at 2304 N. 7th Ave., across from Murdoch’s, at the extremely hilarious North end of Bozeman. •