The Pirates of Pink Pants

WRITTEN BY: Jeffrey P. Smith
PERFORMED AT:
* Fat Cats restaurant, Corning
* Tag's, Big Flats
* National Soaring Museum, Elmira
PERFORMED ON:
* February 17 & 24, March 3, 10, 17 & 24, 2006 (7pm)
* April 29, 2006 (7pm)
* November 4, 2006
DIRECTOR: Amanda Fenn
SPONSORED BY: Market Street Irregulars
CAST AND CREW:
* CAPTAIN SWAIN- Felisha Noble
* STEVE (FIRST MATE)- David A. Scott
* RODGER- Jeff Smith
* QUEEN- Bob Everett
* EARS McDUFFY- Gary Yoggy (except April)/Amanda Fenn (April)
* MAID MARGARET- Debbie Troia
* POLLY- Katie O'Herron
* JOHN SMITH (MASTER AT ARMS)- Greg Fusare
* OLIVER- Jane Daum

PLOT: A fashion-loving band of sea pirates has their ship comandeered by a British captain. When one of the pirates is murdered, it's up to the entire crew to solve the crime. A murder mystery comedy.

HISTORY: Hot on the heels of his "Murder Sells" play, Jeff Smith finished writing another MSI dinner theater show, "Pirates in Pink Pants", which held auditions on January 5 & 8. Not expecting to be in this particular show, I attended the latter audition simply to provide moral support, and to see who was auditioning.
I'd promised Marty King that I would not rehearse any other plays until I was done doing his ELT January production of "Run For Your Wife", meaning that if I were cast in February's "Pirates" show, I wouldn't be able to attend any January "Pirates" rehearsals. Despite this, Amanda was willing to bring me into the cast, even though I would only be involved in the last two weeks of rehearsals.
So, although neither Jeff or I were planning to be in the show, the need for more men to fill the roles led Amanda to ask us in. Fortunately, my "Pirates" role was far less wordy than my part in "Run For Your Wife", so getting lines and blocking down in just two weeks was relatively easy.
Meanwhile, my fiancee Cindy, who'd run lights (and camera) during a couple of "Murder Sells" performances, she joined "Pirates" as the official operator of sound (effects, music) and lights. After a year of watching me do plays while she worked or waited at home, Cindy was now truly part of a theater group with me, for the first time since we met doing "Rocky Horror Picture Show" back in 1998.
The Thursday night before we opened, Corning's The Leader newspaper printed an article on the show, using one of the group photos they'd shot of us on Valentine's Day (minus Jeff, who had to work that evening). The piece appeared in the paper's Weekend (arts) section. An alternate photo from the session showed up in the Local section of that Friday's Elmira Star-Gazette, along with an lengthy caption about the show.
The fourth week of the show's run saw the debut of a 15-second PSA (using February 16 rehearsal footage) on Big Fox TV, plus radio interviews on Wink 106.1fm, WCLI 1430am, and Magic 92.7/97.7fm. Involved in all three of the radio interviews were Debbie, Katie, Felisha, and me, with Jeff and Jane appearing on just the Wink interview (March 9), and Gary appearing on the WENY and Magic ones (both March 10).
The night before our last Fat Cats show (our biggest of the sold-out latter three crowds), I had lost a great deal of my voice (due to sinus-related problems that had affected me since the previous Tuesday), but was somehow able to sing during the show's single song-and-dance number, and deliver my lines (albeit in a huskier voice than usual).
After finishing the six shows at Fat Cats, the cast also performed "Pirates" at Tag's in Big Flats, for one night in late April. Some last-minute quadruple bypass surgery in mid-April left Gary unable to reprise his role for the Tag's show, so director Amanda played Ears (with a remarkable makeup job and fake beard courtesy of Jane) for that night's performance. That night's show featured an added opening scene (penned by Debbie) involving Steve, Queen, and Rodger trying to raise their pirate flag.
On September 1, many MSI members (me, Greg, Gary, Debbie, Kate, and Felisha) received parts in Lake Country Players' November production of "Beauty and the Beast". Since MSI was asked to do a National Soaring Museum show for that Halloween, it made sense to do the costume-filled "Pirates", a show that the cast knew well enough to put on without conflicting with the "Beast" schedule. The show was originally scheduled for October 28, but since Tag's was already doing a Halloween weekend show with its own dinner theater troupe, "Pirates" was rescheduled for the following week. DVD's of "Pirates" (and other prizes) were given out during that show, and the audience took a vote on the long-elusive name of the pirates' ship. The winning name (by audience applause): The HMS Froot Loops.

PHOTOS:
* The cast at Valentine's Day (photo by Amanda Fenn)