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Barn Resounds with Laughter
Michigan native's play to be featured in Port Sanilac

Donald Lierman
Contributing Writer

If you believe that laughter is the best medicine, perhaps a few chuckles will help you forget the heat. Cool off with a few smiles and a lake breeze at Port Sanilac’s Barn Theatre this weekend.

A production of Paul Wade Smith’s nationally renowned “Unnecessary Farce” concludes its run, August 19-21, show times at 8.p.m.

“’Unnecessary Farce’ is a clever and funny script,” said Barn Theatre actor Kelly Kennedy. “The play is filled with outrageous physical comedy. The fact that the playwright, Paul Wade Smith, is from Michigan is fantastic. I commend the Barn Theatre for helping to promote homegrown playwrights.”

The synopsis of “Unnecessary Farce” is described by its web site, www.unnecessaryfarce.com, as:

The setting is two adjoining rooms in an economy motel. It is early morning. Two inexperienced police officers, Eric Sheridan and Billie Dwyer, have been sent to videotape a meeting between the local mayor and the town’s accountant, with the aim of uncovering an embezzlement scheme. But the day is not starting off well.

Billie has been spotted by the mayor in the motel lobby. And Eric and the accountant, Karen Brown, have just spent the night together, a fact they’re trying to keep secret. But when they start going at it again in Karen’s room, just as Billie – in the other room – accidentally begins videotaping them, things begin to unravel.

Billie attempts to erase the tape, but, flummoxed by the remote control, she only manages to start it playing again just as the mayor walks in – thereby establishing his honor’s uncanny knack for entering the room the moment anything sexually suggestive is happening.

The mayor is accompanied by Agent Frank – the head of Town Hall security – an impressively nervous man who warns the officers that anyone who dares to try to find the missing money will incur the wrath of a local mafia called the Scottish Clan. Agent Frank speaks with particular fear of a man named Todd – “The Highland Hitman” – a formidable villain, who always dons a kilt and plays the bagpipes before making a kill.

When Billie, momentarily alone, discovers a plaid duffel bag in the room – with a kilt inside – this straightforward investigation suddenly turns dangerous. Too frightened to answer Todd’s questions, Billie makes the Scotsman angry. And as he gets angrier, his accent gets thicker, until it’s impossible to understand a word he’s saying.

Meanwhile, the mayor’s wife has arrived. Is she merely concerned for her husband, or could she somehow be involved in the criminal plot?

Will the embezzled money be recovered? Can Billie be saved before Todd plays the bagpipes? Will Eric and Karen get to have sex? And can the cops manage to capture the crooks without resorting to… Unnecessary Farce?

The play is not recommended for young children. Ticket prices are $9 for side section seats and $10 for center section seats. The Barn Theatre is located at 242 S. Ridge Street in Port Sanilac. Box-office hours are from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Tuesday through Saturday. For further information, call 810-622-9114.

“I’m thrilled to have been given the opportunity to make people laugh,” said Kennedy. “So come on out to The Barn … There may be bats, but there are even more laughs!”