LAMOINE — Two one-act comedies, including playwright Christopher Durang’s “Wanda’s Visit” and “Trevor,” a 1960s biting comedy by British playwright John Bowen, will be performed at 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Oct. 28-29 and Nov. 4-5 and at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 6, at the Lamoine-Bayside Grange.
Presented by Lamoine Community Arts, “Wanda’s Visit” stars a manically self-centered and manipulative Wanda, who invades the lives of Jim and Marsha, a couple who have endured a dull marriage for 13 years.
Wanda chatters relentlessly about her past, sparking attention from her old high-school flame Jim, a regular but uncertain guy who has never done anything offbeat in life. Marsha, his traditional, loyal wife, maintains an air of passive-aggressive condescension, smiling sardonically.
Jim is caught between saving his marriage and devouring Wanda’s attention and flirtation. How does Jim, with the assistance of a waiter and nefarious hit men, come to terms with an emotionally unscrupulous Wanda and increasingly irate Marsha?
The Lamoine troupe’s fall production also features “Trevor,” which is about a young London couple and their antics to conceal their lesbian relationship from their homophobic parents.
Jane and Sarah concoct a scheme to hire someone, “Trevor,” to pose as the fiancé of one and the married lover of the other. The plan goes awry, however, when both sets of parents show up. How do they react to the frantic young man and their daughters?
Carol Korty, the artistic director of “Trevor,” says the troupe was initially stumped by envisioning how to fit this cleverly wrought farce on the Grange’s diminutive stage. They solved the problem with a set design that compresses three floors into —well, you’ll see!
Despite the weighty social issues brought to life in these two plays, audience members won’t be able to help laughing throughout each.
The Lamoine-Bayside Grange is located on Route 184. To reserve seats, call 667-6564.
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