THE NERD Set to Open at Bowie Playhouse

Prince George's Little Theatre will produce "The Nerd," a classic farce by Larry Shue, at the Bowie Playhouse from August 11 - 26. All Friday performances and the Saturday performances August 12 and 19 are at 8 p.m. The Sunday performances on August 13 and 20 and the closing performance on Saturday, August 26 are 2 p.m. matinees. The play is directed by John Degnan and produced by Malia Murray.

The play is set in Terre Haute, Indiana, in late 1979 in the apartment of Willum Cuthbert (Patrick O'Connell), just before a surprise party to celebrate his 34th birthday. Throwing the party are his friends Axel (Allen Fletcher Cole) and Tansy (Melanie Pino-Elliott). Willum is an unassuming architect whose life is pretty much on a set course as he attempts to move up from designing tract houses to designing a hotel. Axel is a smart-aleck drama critic while Tansy, Willum's love interest, hopes to become a weather girl after moving to Washington, DC.

Joining the party are Warnock Waldgrave (James McDaniel), Willum's blustery boss in the hotel project, and his tightly wound wife Clelia (Nora Zanger) and bratty son Thor (Gus Martone), described by Axel as "a poster child for Planned Parenthood." Willum is desperate for the hotel project to succeed, but the domineering and tactless Waldgrave is stifling his creativity.

The party has already taken several turns for the worse when Willum receives a phone call from Rick Steadman (Patrick Pase) telling him that he will also be dropping by. After Rick saved Willum's life in Vietnam, Willum swore to be there for Rick no matter what if Rick ever needed anything. Unconscious during his rescue, Willum has never actually met Rick and is thrilled to finally be in direct contact. Until Rick shows up, that is! Instead of just dropping by for the party, Rick is planning to stay for an indefinite span, and Rick in the flesh is not such a joy. Socially inept to a delirious extent, he disrupts first the party and then in the next act the lives of everyone in Willum's circle. While Act I focuses on Rick's arrival, Act II sees Willum and his friends conspiring to get Rick to leave!

First produced in 1981 in Milwaukee and having a run of 441 performances on Broadway from 1987-88, "The Nerd" is a zany farce full of physical humor, one-liners, and surprising twists. Rick's antics are pushed to the brink of insanity as he makes life a living hell for others. He is the theatrical imbodiment of "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!"

All performances take place at the Bowie Playhouse, 16500 White Marsh Park Drive, Bowie, Maryland. Regular-priced tickets ($22 for adults and $17 for students and seniors) can be purchased at www.pglt.org, by calling (301) 937-7458, or at the box office prior to each performance if tickets are remaining. Groups of ten or more can purchase tickets in advance for $15 a ticket. There are directions to the Playhouse and more details on ticket purchases at PGLT's website: www.pglt.org.