Play Suggestions: The Nerd

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The Nerd

Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Play Suggestions
Forum Discription: Need help finding a show that's right for your theater? Ask here.
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2635
Printed Date: 5/08/25 at 2:05am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: The Nerd

Posted By: mikejmurray
Subject: The Nerd
Date Posted: 9/03/07 at 12:20pm

Hello,

I may be directing The Nerd next year and just wanted to hear from people who have produced/directed it before. I love the script. I'd like to hear how well the show goes over with audiences and what some of the challenges/difficulties were that maybe isn't apparent when first reading it. Overall, any advice and warnings you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Replies:

Posted By: donzolidis
Date Posted: 9/04/07 at 11:02pm

I've done it twice, as an actor and director, for college, high school, and middle school audiences. Everyone loves it! It's a hilarious play! Can't recommend it highly enough.

The challenge, which I noticed a lot more as a director than an actor--is that there's a lot of food in it. And it's cornish game hen and side dishes. Make sure you have a good refrigerator. We used duck I think--and by the last night that duck was... unpleasant. It was tough as an actor swallowing that stuff. You can buy new game hens for every performance, but it gets expensive. And acting while eating is always a challenge.

Good luck with it!

Don

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www.donzolidis.com

Posted By: Kathy S
Date Posted: 9/05/07 at 11:18am

We had our expert prop artist create faux game hens and focused on salads that could be easily kept and dispensed and eaten on stage (macaroni salad, 3 bean salad, etc). We also had our prop person make faux deviled eggs which were mixed in with a few real ones only detectable to the actors in the scene.

Here's a link to the pictures from our production:

http://www.iowariverplayers.org/irp/past-productions/the-nerd/ - http://www.iowariverplayers.org/irp/past-productions/the-nerd/

Posted By: trutter
Date Posted: 9/08/07 at 8:12pm

I know this doesn't help much, but here are some pictures from our production of The Nerd...

http://www.actorsinc.org/gallery/the_nerd

I wasn't involved with the production, but I have a lot of notes (our producers keep a notebook of expenditures, etc.)

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Troy A. Rutter
Author, "Kids in the Biz: A Hollywood Handbook for Parents"
http://www.kidsinthebiz.com/ - http://www.kidsinthebiz.com/
A Heinemann Drama Publication

Posted By: Linda S
Date Posted: 9/09/07 at 9:33am

I produced and did props for "The Nerd" a few years ago. The shows is great. The food is a challenge! We polyurathaned the game hens after we cooked them and touched them up with a little paint. (Doesn't that sound yummy!? Fresh game hens for each night would have been our whole prop budget.) We stored them in the freezer between shows. We had a little fresh chicken on the plates behind the game hens for actors to eat. The salads were good through the each weekend, and we did only a few fresh deviled eggs each night. The others went in the freezer with the game hens. It was summer and the bit with cottage cheese seemed like it would be a pretty stinky if it set in the clothes or on the stage even for a little while. We used ceiling popcorn patch material as a substitute. It looked great and cleaned up with water. I was even able to do the coat just once. It washed out great after. It is really funny show. Have fun.

Linda

Posted By: Amos Hart
Date Posted: 5/28/08 at 11:56am

I don't know if you've done this show yet, but the second time I directed it, my Ticky & Clelia were fairly large people and sat comfortably together on the couch. The set crew had picked out a love seat. At one point, I had Rick sit down between them.

The first time we worked with the love seat, Rick squeezed himself in between them like a shoe horn, sinking into the middle with his arms crunched between his knees and with Ticky and Clelia's limbs stretched out every which way.

The producer, seeing the struggle, came over and said, "We can get you a bigger couch."

I said, "Over my dead body."