Stage Scene
A twisted bit of 'History,' vaudeville style

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Staff Writer

From left, Dan Kois, Mathias Maas and R. Kevin Doyle are in the cast of the Mªnoa Valley Theatre production of "The Complete History of America (abridged)." Gregory Yamamoto• The Honolulu Advertiser "The Complete History of America (abridged)" Opens at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; repeats 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 4 p.m. Sundays through July 29 Manoa Valley Theatre $22 (discount for seniors, military and students) 988-6131

• The initial shot that launched the American Revolutionary War came from the grassy knoll.
• Lewis and Clark weren't just explorers, but accomplished vaudeville performers as well.
• The real discoverer of America.

That is, unless director Mark Lutwak and actors R. Kevin Doyle, Dan Kois and Mathias Maas haven't already excised all three of these scenes from the play in favor of stuff they dreamed up in their own comically fertile cerebrums during rehearsals.

"There's nothing serious about this play," Lutwak says about "Complete History's" furiously-paced sequencing of skits, parodies, songs and bad poetry that turns 600 years of American history into two hours of Monty Python's Flying Circus meets vaudeville.

Written by Adam Long, Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor in 1993 for their Massachusetts-based Reduced Shakespeare Company, the play joins the trio's similarly twisted treatments of the Bible, as in "The Complete Word of God (abridged)," and the Bard, as in "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)." The latter, promises RHC's Web site, features "all 37 plays in less than 97 minutes."

"It's a script, but it's also kind of a structure for improvisation," says Lutwak, of "Complete History." "The original authors just butcher history left and right. If there's a chance to be more funny or to be correct, they choose to be funny. I would never send kids to this for a history lesson."

After being tapped by MVT to direct, Lutwak — also artistic director and co-manager of Hawai'i Theatre For Youth — imagined members of longtime Honolulu improvisational comedy troupe Loose Screws for "Complete History's" cast.

"I admired the group and thought they were really funny," says Lutwak. "My original hope was to get three of them to play all three parts."

Great idea, except the play's manic structure requires the actors to inhabit more than 50 characters in the first act alone.

In the end, Lutwak got two Screws: Doyle and Kois. Maas, a stage manager with HTY, auditioned and locked the final spot in the cast.

All three actors began tinkering with the script the moment each received it, removing stuff they felt was dated and tossing in their own ideas as the production's two months of rehearsals progressed.

"They've been coming up with 90 percent of the (new) stuff, and I'm like, 'Keep that!' or 'Keep this!" says Lutwak, of his actors deft improv skills. "I could just leave it in their hands and just sit back."