Making God Laugh - Living Drama Theatre

   I went to the production this weekend alone - my SO was otherwise engaged. And frankly, they were better off.

  "Making God Laugh" centers around a family and their get-togethers and plans for the future. These visits occur every 10 years, starting in 1980. 

  The good - LDT has a little hook in set construction where they have something on stage that is out of place, and an audience member who finds it and brings it to the attention of the staff get free tickets. It's a nice idea, but I think it's gone too far.
  The set looked great, but for this run they have three different things 'wrong' - and that's two too many, I think. Two were extremely minor and frankly not unusual for most community theaters, and the third actually made the set (which looked great otherwise) look sloppy.
  Costumes were ok, but some pieces meant to be 'in the period' spanned over a number of decades and didn't really pinpoint a date. One of the patrons (who obviously hadn't looked at the playbill which explained the dates of each scene) was confused in Act 1, scene 2 with the timeframe they were now in, based on the costumes on stage. 
    Lighting was on point. The new sound system sounds great.
   The sister of the family, Maddie (played by Marann Curtis) was a shining light on stage; she emoted well,  knew her lines, and made her character realistic.

   The Bad & the Ugly: I'm not going to belabor this. The acting was of a much lower standard than I'd come to expect at LDT and from community theater in general. Group energy was weak or off completely, and at times it was physically draining to watch. I'd hope some quick line runs and an extra rehearsal or two this week might make the show better for the upcoming weekend.
    In addition, I've seen (and appeared in) shows that had 30-45 second scene change blackouts, and we (the cast and crew) were loudly and verbally chastised by the director and stage manager for taking SO LONG. They'd have lost their minds in this show - the scene changes in each act lasted through a complete background song, and then the song started over (!). These were 2+ minute scene changes, in the relative dark, with the crew using CELL PHONES for light on stage.  I understand the cast needs to change outfits for the new decade and can't help much; I also understand that LDT appear to have 2-3 crew backstage. BUT - they HAVE to get a few more hands backstage, and they HAVE to get some Dollar Tree flashlights if light is needed! It would have been better to just keep the stage lit than to have stagehands waving their phones around for light!

    LDT's next show is Godspell in February, and it can't come too soon.

   Grade: D+ (go to support LDT and their future productions)