The latest installment of the E3T reading series dropped on Tuesday night at Plays and Players, and there was much rejoicing. Playwright Todd Cardin provided us with Getting the Knack, which is a coming-of-age story (sort of), set in the 1980s, in which the band The Knack plays an instrumental role during a young man’s eighteenth birthday. The tone of the thing owes a lot to John Hughes movies, which is endearing to someone my age, though I think the younger people in the crown missed a lot of that. Much of it didn’t work, in the same way that much of John Hughes movies don’t work anymore, despite the play being indisputably hilarious.
There were larger problems with characterization and plot, which I won’t get into too much, other than to say, it felt like a lot of great jokes that never cohered into a story. I hope Todd hasn’t given up on this thing, because while I don’t think the story went anywhere (or, for that matter, really began anywhere), there is much of this play worth salvaging.
If anyone’s interested in my social calendar (and, really, why wouldn’t you be?), I plan to check out a Martin McDonagh play at Curio Theatre this weekend. Also, the next reading at the Drake is on Monday, so if you’re looking for some free theater and the opportunity for drinks afterward, search no more! I think the play is The PlayMakers by Julie Zaffarano. The original schedule has that slot listed as TBA, but the good folks at PlayPenn are promoting it as Zaffarano’s gig, so I’m going with that. In any event, why do you care so much!? You don’t have to plan everything! Just go!
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