A smash hit off-Broadway in 2009, The Understudy is about two rival actors who compete for a coveted role in a newly discovered Kafka play. Written by Pulitzer Prize nominee Theresa Rebeck, the play weaves together themes of high angst and high humor, says director Christina Kirk. Kirk is also a professor of theatre at Otterbein University.

WOSU’s theater critic Joy Reilly talks with director Christina Kirk.

“It’s just perfect summer fare,” says Kirk.  ”Audiences laugh out loud.”

“You take this existential angst-ridden theme,” says Kirk, referring to the work of Franz Kafka, best known for his writing about the grotesque alienation of man in an unintelligible or indifferent world, “and you put it in the hands of three crazy people.”

Kirk says that Otterbein’s summer season (which includes Nunsense in July), is not to be missed because of the quality of the cast and crew.  “I don’t feel like I’m working with students in this cast,” she says, “I could put this on Broadway and feel very proud of it.”

The Understudy
June 23 – July 2
Campus Center Theatre
100 W. Home St. Westerville, Ohio (map)

More information at http://www.otterbein.edu/theatre or by calling 614.823.1109.

Read More:

• Otterbein’s Summer Season (Press Release)
• Theresa Rebeck (personal website)