Commissioned by the Nevada Conservatory Theatre (NCT/UNLV), Kirsten Brandt, Executive Director.
"Based on Nikolai Gogol's "The Overcoat," this darkly comic fable follows a downtrodden copy clerk through a gauntlet of exploitation by those who should help him. When Mr. Shoe finally acquires a fine new suit that transforms how the world sees him, his brief ascent into respectability ends in an encounter that exposes the brutal machinery beneath civilized society..." *
"Written specifically for Las Vegas by today's most exciting American playwright..." *
* NCT Invites You to SHORTS: The Worker, UNLV News Center
Short Play Festival shining spotlight on working class struggles, Fox 5 Las Vegas
Photos courtesy of the Nevada Conservatory Theatre (NCT/UNLV)
Kirsten Brandt, Executive Director
Director – Maythinee Washington
Mr. Mud E. Shoe – Camryn Moody
Colleague 1 & Thug 1 – Jack Herrera
Colleague 2 & Thug 2 – Sadie Dayley
Banker & Landlady – Amaiyah King
Loan Shark & Police Officer – Lee Robbins
Tailor & Doctor – Elle Collura
Secretary – Sofia Virden
Good Manager & Bad Manager – Rydia Freeman
"People like Mr. Mud E. Shoe work very hard, and are still very poor, and preyed upon by their societies. It's widely known that such people tend to be almost voiceless and almost invisible (almost like ghosts); what's less widely known (less widely seen) is that such people also dance."
-A.J. Schaar, Mr. Mud E. Shoe
"How much coarseness and cruelty can be concealed inside the most elegant cloaks."
-Nikolai Gogol, The Overcoat (line translation by Schaar)