A Behanding in Spokane

In Martin McDonagh's first American-set play, Carmichael has been searching for his missing left hand for almost half a century. Enter two bickering lovebirds with a hand to sell, and a hotel clerk with an aversion to gunfire, and we're set for a hilarious roller coaster of love, hate, desperation and hope. "Insane yet also fiendishly funny. McDonagh is a specialist in unleashed violence, in which he shamelessly revels. Here the violence is comical, and we are kept guessing throughout a farce that is as irresistible as it is improbable... moves at farce speed from shock to comic shock." -Bloomberg.com.

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Neighborhood3: Requisition of Doom

by Jennifer Haley
directed by Jesse Jou
Opens Thursday, July 7, then
Wednesday - Sunday until July 30
curtain: 8pm - Tickets: $29

In a suburban subdivision with identical houses, parents find their teenagers addicted to an online horror video game. The game setting? A subdivision with identical houses. The goal? Smash through an army of zombies to escape the neighborhood for good. But as the line blurs between virtual and reality, both parents and players realize that fear has a life of its own.

"Haley's suspenseful play beamed cautionary messages about inattentive parents of teenagers addicted to online video games. A sense of unease about the diminishing line between real life and virtual reality lingered for days after the suburban zombies in "Neighborhood 3" were vanquished with weed whackers and hedge clippers." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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The Betrothed

by Dipika Guha
directed by Jesse Jou
Opens Thursday, August 4, then
Wednesday - Sunday until September 3
curtain: 8pm - Tickets: $29

As Simon's flight descends over the Old Country his mind swirls between his home in Pittsburgh and the beautiful woman he imagines waiting for him among the cow patties. Betrothed from birth, he has waited thirty long years to meet his beloved. Upon arrival, his fantasies of finding the perfect wife spar against old crones, morally ambiguous clergymen, deceitful babies, and barnyard animals. Here, Simon must navigate a world where murder, ghostly possession, and rampant cuckoldry are everyday realities and 'meeting your match' takes on an entirely different meaning. The Betrothed is a comedy that exists between desire and death, dream and reality, life and the afterlife. It is a play with music.

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The Ding Dongs
or What is the Penalty in Portugal?

a WHAT World Premiere
by Brenda Withers
directed by Jeffrey Withers
Opens Thursday, September 8, then
Wednesday - Sunday until October 9
Pay What You Can (at door) - Fri, 9/9
curtain: 8pm - Tickets: $29

When a sweet-faced couple shows up on a suburban doorstep, an unsuspecting homeowner finds himself the victim of a surreal home invasion. Using wit and wordplay to mask a more sinister threat, the couple wages a battle over indigenous rights from the living room, and we are asked to examine the brutality that fuels our system of private property. The Ding Dongs was written by Brenda Withers (co-author of Matt & Ben) and developed in the WHAT Lab in 2010.

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