Take a Bow: A Night of Comedic One-Acts

“Pandora’s Revenge” by Pat Cook | “Boise, Idaho” by Sean Micahel Welch | “Self-HELP!” and “Coffeehouse Hotel” by Derek Olson

Venue

BF Community Hall & BF Rec Center Auditorium
Dates

April 22 & 27 at 7pm
Duration

Approx. 2 hours (incl 3 10 min intermissions)

ENJOY A NIGHT OF COMEDIC ONE ACTS!

We love doing our nights of one-acts at Belle Fourche Area Community Theater and in 2022 we had a great night of four hilarious shows. The show starts with the mystery and revenge fueled Pandora’s Revenge then transitioned to the meta commentary of story and the characters stuck in the middle of it with Boise, Idaho. Then there was the micro one-act Coffeehouse Hotel about sisters running two conjoined businesses or are they who they say they are and ended the night with Self-HELP!, the story of three friends who need some help with their lives and go looking for that help in the worst possible place.

The first performance of Take a Bow was held at Belle Fourche Community Hall but because this is South Dakota, a freak snowstorm blew through, and the cast had to tear down the set and perform a few days later back at our normal home of the Belle Fourche Rec Center Auditorium. The weather didn’t keep the cast down, nor the audience who got to spend a night of side-splitting laughter.

THAT… THAT IS PRETTY MESSED UP, I MEAN I AM A CREATURE OF PURE EVIL AND TERROR, BUT THIS BOSS SOUNDS, REALLY GROSS.

ABADDON FROM “SELF-HELP!”

Pandora’s Revenge by Pat Cook

The story goes, according to legend, that when Pandora’s box was opened all sorts of pleasures and evils escaped. Just what sort of package has Marvin Hanover opened, he wonders, as he tries to sell insurance to Miss Thorndyke. First, she really isn’t Miss Thorndyke—she’s Ida Simpkins and she doesn’t actually live at the address she gave him over the phone. She seems to have more questions for Marvin than he ever saw on any application. Panicked by the evening news and her rundown neighborhood, she grills Marvin like a hamburger patty. Lines fly fast and ferociously in this cat-and-mouse adventure with Marvin wondering just who’s the cat and who’s the mouse.

Boise, Idaho by Sean Michael Welch

The narrator of a story dutifully chronicles the meeting of a couple in a small café in Paris, France, only to start losing control of his characters once they realize he exists. Blending the lines between fiction and truth, this hilarious play examines what should triumph: reality, or a good story.

Coffeehouse Hotel by Derek Olson

Come enjoy your stay at the Coffeehouse Hotel. Or actually, you can’t enjoy yourself at the coffeehouse or the hotel. That may not make a lot of sense but in this fast-paced comedy, Tristan just wants to get his room and a latte but the sisters Maeve and Maeve aren’t going to make it easy.

Self-HELP! by Derek Olson

A night of gaming becomes anything but when the dread demon Abaddon is summoned. Three friends want Abaddon to fix the various problems in their lives but he has his own ideas and things don’t go quite like anyone expects them to. This comedic one act is all about getting what you want isn’t always what you imagine.