As part of its commitment to producing original work, University Theatre presents the world premiere of Must Go On, a comedy written and directed by John Kundert-Gibbs, an associate professor in the theatre and film studies department.
The farcical homage to morning talk shows will feature a combination of theater onstage and live television broadcast in the Fine Arts Building’s Cellar Theatre on Feb. 21-23 and Feb. 27 through March 2 at 8 p.m., with a matinee performance on March 3 at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets are $16, $12 for UGA students. They can be purchased at http://www.drama.uga.edu/box-office, by phone at 706-542-4400 or at the door.
Must Go On takes place at Taste of the Morning, a fictional, Atlanta-based, live morning talk show on the morning that everyone learns the show has been canceled. While the cast and crew try to keep up the illusion of calm on screen, things backstage start going wrong.
As the various guests on the show-including a high school dance troupe and an opossum trainer-get drawn in, chaos threatens to overwhelm the action in front of the cameras as well.
Kundert-Gibbs, the show’s writer and director, will stage Must Go On in two spaces that are separated by approximately 50 feet and connected with audio and video links.
“The show’s ‘on-air’ and studio action unfolds for the audience by way of a constant large monitor feed, while the theater’s stage serves as the Taste of the Morning greenroom,” Kundert-Gibbs said. “Via video hookup, the audience will see both the backstage madness as well as what’s being ‘broadcast’ on TV, revealing the often chaotic, humorous antics that go into producing a daily television show.”
Kundert-Gibbs said the show is somewhat of a requiem to local morning television.
“Taste of the Morning is a composite of a number of local morning news and gossip programs around the country, with a flair-and a desperation-all its own,” he said.
