Cast of Characters
Planted actors All of them look like they’re part of the audience. These actors intermingle with the audience. Some of them have a few lines in the play but the rest of them improvise with what’s happening at the moment. They are in the group arriving in the parking lot, purchasing tickets, and setting in the auditorium.
Joel Our hero of the play. He is the janitor at this theater. He works for Mr. Strickler with Mr. N.E. Body. He is the center of attention while people are buying their tickets. During this time there is more than one Joel character acting out the part at different times. The idea is to expose every member of the audience to the character of Joel not so much the individual actor but recognizing that character.
Mr. N.E. Body Mr. N.E. Body is dressed in a one-piece work suit with a hardhat. He is one of the workman Joel has had several run-ins with. Whenever Mr. Strickler has a problem with Joel in the lobby he calls Mr. N.E. Body to escort him out of the room. Mr. N.E. Body lives in the first building on stage left. It is a cutaway view and you can see the inside of his two-story home. He spends almost all the time on the second story, drinking beer, in an easy chair watching television which is showing the live performance of the play. The audience can see what he has watching. Mr. N.E. Body is not aware of the presence of the audience. His refrigerator is on the first floor and throughout the performance he’s constantly going downstairs to get a beer and then back upstairs to his easy chair.
Mr. Strickler Mr. Strickler is Joel’s boss. He is a tall imposing figure with a bald head and hair on the sides. He is dressed in a dark suit white shirt thin dark tie. He wears wingtip shoes and thick black horn-rimmed glasses. He carries a clipboard and is constantly stopping and writing down something. He has a very salty attitude when addressing Joel but a super sick sweet personality when dealing with the public. He can be seen constantly hassling with Joel throughout the performance.
The dream voice The dream voice is actually Joel’s conscience speaking to him. So the character that is playing Joel has to pre-record these parts so he can carry on a conversation with himself. He should sound something like a wrestling match announcer.
The Band The Band is a typical 60s rock band. The members consists of a drummer with a trap kit, and a percussionist. The rhythm section is bass guitar and rhythm and lead guitar player. There are four female background singers. A full choir is set up on the back wall of the stage. They enter and exit as needed to perform with the music. They are not on their platforms at the back when the audience enters the auditorium. Stage right is a keyboard player playing a Hammond B3. Stage left is another keyboard player using a rack of multiple keys that can produce the piano, clavinet, and synthesizer sounds of the 60s music. There is a screen behind the band for visual effects and videos.
The Dancers The dancers are young hippy kids that flood in and out of the enter/exit points in the set. They are colorfully dressed complete with beads and long hair. Some of them are carrying burning incense again to stimulate the sense of smell to the audience. During the psychedelic dance scenes, half the dancers are dressed in black, the other half dressed in white. Some dancers can be dressed as rats coming in and out of the manhole covers.
Susie Sweetheart Susie sweetheart is Joel’s girlfriend. She is dressed like a schoolgirl during the 60s. She is a hippie chick. Leather boots short skirt longhair and beads.
The Class When the band is not playing they become the class and the extras& Extras taking part in the action stage left in stage right, like walking up and down the street. Some of them hang out with the punks.
Punks in alley The punks are dressed and act like a street gang occasionally hassling a passer buyer constantly peeking in the window of the bar/restaurant.
Lady in window Stage right a lady is popping in and out of a second story window. She is seen watering her flowers and shaking the dust out of rugs throughout the play. Whenever someone is saying something negative she sticks her head out the window and shakes a rug.
Smarty Martins Smarty Martins is Joel’s rival for the attention of Susie sweetheart. During the time he’s in the classroom he’s constantly trying to get her attention. He tries to flirt with her whenever Joel is not paying attention. He is dressed in a three-piece suit. He looks like an and acts like a lawyer.
Laugh-in-doors The Laugh-in-doors are used to inject one liners and punch lines into the play using the old Rowan and Martin Laugh In TV program stage set up. Sometimes there is a person with his door open just listening to the play. Again there is lots of room for improvisation. No one ever enters or exits through these doors. Sometimes their lines are used to express someone’s conscience or feelings. One thing is to have people from the Laugh-in-doors and the manhole covers shoot champagne poppers at each other. One door opens up and holds out a net, out of the other door comes different shooters trying to make it into the net. They are totally unaware of the audience, and are there to just distract what’s going on. Have sound effects such as wild animals and birds coming out from behind the Laugh-in-doors at different times. Another good one would be to hear a gunshot, then a pause, then someone would say “OH they got me”. This would be done by using a starting pistol and having someone else just shout the lines with the doors still closed.
Crystal Crystal is the cocktail waitress in the bar scenes. She is the one that slips Joel the Mickey, the spiked Coke.
Mary Mary is with the band and she picks up Joel in the bar.