Friday, February 21, 1997

HOLY MO & SPEW BOY (Feb 21 - Mar 8, 1997)

by Lucia Frangione
A Potluck Production
A post-modern Old Testament comedy

HOLY MO! was the hit of the 1994 Vancouver Fringe Festival, its off-the-wall comedy and reverent irreverence winning it a wildly enthusiastic reception from everybody! Critics, fringe-goers, even children delighted in this epic three-woman deconstruction of the story of Moses. And then there was... SPEW BOY! An equally wacky reinvention of the life of King David.

A Guest Production by Potluck Productions

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CAST
Bufoona, a fool - Erla Faye Forsyth
Follie, a troubadour - Lucia Frangione
Guff, a flunky - Anita Wittenberg

Music - Rene Russell
Director - Don Noble
Stage Manager - Kelly O
Lights - Jim Wenting
Cart Design - Rene Joshi

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Playwright's Notes

Holy Mo & Spew Boy is based on the lives of Moses and King David. Warning: Direct Biblical quotes include violence, sex, and offensive behavior. We encourage you to read the book.

This play means more to me than anything else I have ever done to doate. I suppose that is why I jumped at the chance to do it again when Pacific Theatre offered us the space and support to do it. I can't begin to tell you how the whole concept of Holy Mo & Spew Boy began. In some ways I wrote it as a challenge to the things I have struggled with. One, being a woman in the arts, two, being an artist with the title "Christian" thrust upon my shoulders. When we first began two of my dear actor friends sat me down and told me that "girls just aren't as funny as guys." We started rehearsals for our 1994 Holy Mo tour in a church lobby . The elders got a hold of the script an decided to kick us out on the grounds of blasphemy. We countered with an offer to see a run-through of the show. Our audience consisted of a mass of grim-faced bespectacled men, pencils and illegally copied scripts in hand. We said a quick and fervent prayer behind the circus wagon and began. During the show, laughter burst from them, almost by accident. They banged their pots and pans, shouting "Mo is a twinkie!" with tears running down their faces. At the end of the show, they laid their hands on our wagon, blessed us, and sent us off on our ministering way with a frying pan full of donations.

This play is really about faith. Faith that three women can be allowed to share the stories of these amazing Bilical characters with everyone, not just a select, sanctified few. Faith that we can get a few laughs, even if we are "only girls." Faith that truth is worth any offence taken, and will stand for itself without us having to convince our audiences to believe anything. Faith that my "faith" and my "art" amount to the same thing in the end.

Lucia Frangione