The Mother Ship

written & directed by Jonas Oppenheim

JUNE 27 - AUG 2, 2014
Fridays & Saturdays @ 8pm
plus Sundays, July 6, 13 & 20 @ 7pm
(no performance Friday, July 4)

Tickets: $20
Reservations: (310) 281-8337 or Buy Tickets Online
Friday, July 11: Donate What You Can (see below)

WORLD PREMIERE! Trevor and Penelope want a baby more than anything, but infertility has them in its clutches. Then their new water heater turns out to be a portal into another dimension. They find themselves on a space adventure to save all life on Earth... and their marriage. The Mother Ship is a sci-fi sex farce complete with slamming doors, seductive aliens, and dancing ghost-eggs.

Friday, July 11: DONATE WHAT YOU CAN. It's "Pay What You Can" with a twist! Half of all proceeds for this performance will be donated to the Baby Quest Foundation. Tickets that night may only be purchased at the door. Call (310) 281-8337 to make a reservation.

Reviews

"...a perfect night of craziness and good taste." -Los Angeles Post

"I could not have asked for a more outrageous, hilarious, or enjoyable show to introduce me to the Sacred Fools Theater Company. After taking a ride on THE MOTHER SHIP, I'll be back for more." -Perez Muses

Read the full reviews!

Photos

Photos by Jessica Sherman Photography

Cast

Bryan Bellomo as Trevor
Aviva Pressman as Penelope
Stephen Simon as Captain Pex
Lynn Odell as Rose / Rrrxorkzyx
Julia Griswold as Maya / Maintenancebot
Carrie Keranen as Ilene / Dr. Ilsa
Michael Holmes as Tim / Other Dr. Tyler
Victor Isaac as Kirby / Kurtis
Curt Bonnem as Golom / Gorman
Scott Golden as Willy / Werner

Understudies: Abraham Benrubi, Rebecca Benzell, Zachary Bernstein, Corey Klemow, Rebecca Larsen, Matt Merchant & Jennifer Christina Smith

Crew

Producer - Brian Wallis
Assistant Director - Mandi Moss
Stage Manager - Suze Campagna
Set & Lighting Designer - Tito Fleetwood Ladd
Costume Designer - Linda Muggeridge
Prop Designer - Kathy Bell Denton
Sound Designer - Joe Calarco
Original Music - Zachary Bernstein
Dance Choreographer - Natasha Norman
Stunt / Fight Choreographer - Mike Mahaffey
Casting Coordinator - Seamus Sullivan
Marketing Coordinator - Richard Levinson
Design Coordinator - Erik Engman
Dramaturg - Guy Picot
Assistant Stage Manager - Alyson Schultz
Intern - Patricia Chaffey
Graphic Design - Curt Bonnem, Ben Rock & Corey Klemow

Reviews

Perez Muses

What do you get when you slam the 1960's British sex farce genre into the mattress of science fiction while trying, desperately and unsuccessfully, to impregnate it? Obviously you get THE MOTHER SHIP by Jonas Oppenheim currently playing at Sacred Fools Theater Company.

This world-premier show takes on the taboo and altogether touchy subjects of marital strife and infertility in an extremely unique and hilarious way.

Trevor and Penelope are trying to get pregnant. Trevor's sister, Ilene, and her husband, Kirby, haven't seemed to have any problem with the process. In fact, they seem to be rather overly-proficient and procreation. Even Trevor's mother, the prickly Rose, has had substantial sexual success. Meanwhile Trevor and Penelope's sex life, and ability to bear children, are waning fast. Fortunately, an unlikely intergalactic, teleportation mix-up on the space vessel Infinium could turn the tables for everyone.

Bryan Bellomo, a Sacred Fools veteran, as Trevor takes on a hefty load of the show and carries it with much sweat, gusto, and deftness. Right alongside him is Aviva Pressman as Penelope. Much like Bellomo (and quite a lot of the cast, in fact) she sprints from scene to scene in not much more than her skivvies delivering gut punch after gut punch on the emotional roller coaster Penelope rides. Other shout-outs must be given to Scott Golden as Willy/Werner for his unflappability and lighting-fast improvisational reflexes, Carrie Keranen as Ilene/Doctor Ilsa for her incredible comedic timing and precision, Lynn Odell as the nymphomaniacal and stinging mother, Rose, and villainous Rrrxorkzyx, and Stephen Simon as Captain Pex who masterfully utilizes his sheer physical presence on stage for bit after hilarious bit.

I could not have asked for a more outrageous, hilarious, or enjoyable show to introduce me to the Sacred Fools Theater Company. After taking a ride on THE MOTHER SHIP, I'll be back for more.

--Andrew J. Perez
© 2014 Perez Muses

Los Angeles Post

I have to hand it to the crew at the Sacred Fools Theater Company. They really are extremely creative and certainly take chances. That’s what makes them one of my favorite groups. Their new production, “Mother Ship”, is an over-the-top science fiction story with a down-to-earth message.

Penelope (Aviva Pressmen) wants a baby; she doesn’t care what she has to do, including driving her husband Trevor (Bryan Bellomo) nuts with on-demand sex that’s controlled by a thermometer and her ovulation schedule. Nothing is working so in order for the couple to move to the next stage, they need to extort some money from Trevor’s sex-crazed Mom (Lynn Odell). They attempt to bring up the subject of money at a Mother’s Day celebration in which the whole dysfunctional family is gathered together.

This is a familiar story, watching a few friends of mine drive themselves totally insane over failed attempts at having a baby. They go into a baby conceiving frenzy that consumes their lives and at times stresses their relationship to the brink of extinction. Jonas Oppenheim (writer) driven by his own experience toys with the audience, bringing up questions of morality and allows us to experience the absurdity of it all, and let’s not forget the role that money plays, the cost for insemination or other methods of forcing the body to conceive is quite expensive allowing only those with the financial means the luxury of these artificially induced options.

Don’t be fooled. This production is not as pedestrian as it sounds, after all it’s Sacred Fools and there is nothing normal about them; Oppenheim must have had a fascination with Star Trek. Somehow a faulty hot-water heater in the home of Trevor and Penelope transports the whole production onto a second set, a space ship, complete with costumed characters from outer space. Trevor mistakenly ends up on the ship with a captain from another ship whose mission is to save the world ends up in his house. The whole story goes way over the top, in a highly entertaining way. We move back and forth between the couple’s home and the spaceship and get the whole clash of evil versus good with a surprising but traditional ending.

The acting is excellent, some of the characters are just so endearing. Julie Griswold is adorable as the little robot girl who runs around trying to fix everyone. You will love Capitan Pax the gay space commander and Curt Bonnem (Golom) as the young stud lover of Trevor’s Mom. Oppenheim is also the director; he moves the cast around a very complicated stage set, with lots of doors and reversible props and pieces that were fun but didn’t seem to flow properly; however, the cast skillfully covered it up, by making the mishaps part of the show’s scripted dialog. It was opening night, and some of the clumsiness will correct itself as the show runs. However, knowing this group, it all could have been part of the show...

If you’re a Sacred Fools fan, or you’re a Star Trekker, give this a GO, and if you do go check out a fun bar just down the street called the Faculty. Mike is an Italian from NYC, not only does he have great wines that he prides himself on seeking out from small wineries but he also ships in cannoli’s and cheese cake from the legendary Italian bakery in little Italy, Ferrara’s. It will make a perfect night of craziness and good taste.

--Rose Desena
© 2014 Los Angeles Post

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