2001 has not been a goofy year. Not even a little bit.
But that doesn't mean pockets of harmless insanity didn't crop up now and again. I mean, Bin Laden aside, this was a year that saw The Vagina Monologues and Puppetry of the Penis both enjoy commercial Off-Broadway productions, while a little musical called Urinetown! leapt from Off-Off-Broadway to the big time. It was a year that saw $480 orchestra seats, Dick Cavett and Jerry Springer narrating Rocky Horror and, well, Puppetry of the Penis.
So without further ado, here are the goofiest play titles and synopses of 2001. Long may they wave!
Girl, Your Hair's On Fire! (solo show, 2100 Square Feet, Los Angeles, CA, January 2001) What Big Teeth You Have! or, Little Red Bites Back (San Francisco Fringe Festival, CA, September 2000)
The Communist Dracula Pageant (Soho Rep Summer Camp 7 Festival, NYC, July 2001)
The New Wondertwins in Sparklevision ("a steaming stew of red neck kids, retarded girls, rump-shakin' music, delicious dancers, alcoholic octogenarians, sass, sensationalism and SPARKLE!") P.S. 122: NYC, April 2001)
At The Rim of a Purple Volcano ("a gay odyssey." Source Theater, Washington DC, July 2001)
The Yoga of Moby-Dick (Mark Kenward at San Francisco Fringe Festival, CA, September 2001)
Rudolph the Red Hosed Reindeer (Todo Con Nada at Show World, NYC, December 2001)
The Emperor's New G-String ("three male strippers try on the latest fashion in G-strings." Urban Fairytale Festival, NYC, April 2001)
Santa Claus is Coming Out (Gene Frankel Theater, NYC, December 2001)
My Mother's a Baby Boy (Kraine Theatre: NYC, January 2001)
The Ten-Minute Play About Rosemary's Baby (Soho Rep's Summer Camp 7 Fest, NYC, July 2001)
Kitty Ultrasound Hits The Road (Barbara Early at San Francisco Fringe Festival, September 2001)
Killer Midgets (Pelican Studio, NYC, April 2001)
The Man Who Shot His Washing Machine (Theatre for the New City, NYC, February 2001)
The Day Maggie Blew Off Her Head (Serendipity Theatre Company, Chicago, IL, July 2001)
PsychoSemitic ("Felice Shays, in her disturbing comedic display of physical and emotional endurance...proves that one should never mess with a Jewish dyke and her blowtorch." National Queer Arts Festival, San Francisco, CA, June 2001)
Are You There, God? It's Me, Ann-Margret (Illyria Theater at Joe's Pub, NYC, May 2001)
Secret Deliriums of a Rented Mind (e.x. theater at NY International Fringe Festival, NYC, August 2001)
Note to Self: Shop Bloomingdales - Find Mother (Black Box Theatre, West Los Angeles, CA, June 2001)
Slaves Of Starbucks (HERE, NYC, May 2001)
Cooking with Lard (Lifeline Theatre, Chicago, IL, June 2001)
Tumor Brainiowicz (Theatre of a Two-Headed Calf company, Off Off-Broadway, NYC, August 2001)
The Lemony Fresh Scent of Diva Monsoon (Rose Alley Theatre, CA, August 2001)
The Foul Stench of Death (Kilt & Bagel Productions, Inc.; Currican Theater, Off-Broadway, NYC, June 2001)
The Foul Stench of Death II: The One About The Severed Hand That Kills People (Kilt & Bagel Productions, Inc.; Currican Theatre, Off Broadway, NYC, June 2001)
Dirty Ugly People and Their Stupid Meaningless Lives (Moving Arts, L.A., CA, July 2001)
The Professor, The Puppet and the Execution (A Contemporary Theatre, Seattle, WA, March 2001)
Mantle, Maris And Mom (The Goys of Summer) (Castillo Theatre, NYC, February 2001)
The Engineer and the Artist (and the Super-Deluxe Giant Weenie Costume) (Theatre Unlimited, North Hollywood, CA, May 2001)
Zero Mark Zero: Dr. Dappertutto and the Submarine Incident (Chashama, NYC, November 2001)
Seltzer-Man: A One-Man Play About How the Last Seltzer-Man Lost and Found His Fizz (Tiffany Theatre, CA, September 2001)
9th Annual Evening of Kung Pao Kosher Comedy (New Asia Restaurant, San Francisco, CA, December 2001)
Embryos On Ice!, or Fetus Don't Fail Me Now (Chicago Second City, Chicago, IL, September 2001)
Ladies & Gentlemen, The Opposite Sex...Enters (Iron Workers Local 202 Theatre Company at Exit Theatre, San Francisco, CA, June 2001)
Raised By Lesbians (Subterranean Theater Company, Austin TX, April 2001).
Co-Dependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same (Theatre Rhinoceros Studio, San Francisco, CA, San Francisco)
Beaverzilla ("One-third woman, two-thirds beaver: you do the math... See Dr. Silvia Snatch And Her Diligent Assistant Gunter Unveil Their Revolutionary Libidometer!" Tiny Tuna Theatre Collective at San Francisco Fringe Festival, CA September 2001)
The Samsonite Luv Monkey (Tamarind Theatre, CA, September 2001)
The Condom, The Cucumber, And The Girl From Ipanema (Pauper Etiquette Theatre Company of Saskatchewan, Canada at San Francisco Fringe Festival September 2001)
Puppetry of the Penis (John Houseman Theatre, Off-Broadway, 2001)
Fuck You or, Dead Pee-Holes; An American Tale in Thirteen Acts (The White Trash Hamsters as part of NY International Fringe Festival, NYC, August 2001)
Spooge: The Sex and Love Monologues (Riant Theater, NYC, November 2001)
Maybe I Can Get Laid in Jail (Collective Unconscious, NYC, September 2001)
Despair's Book of Dreams and the Sometimes Radio (HERE, NYC, March 2001)
The Wizard of A.I.D.S. (Hothouse Theatre, St. Louis, MO, November 2001)
Liliane — Everytime My Lil' World Seems Blue, I Just Haveta Look at You and Learn Eye-Hand Coordination - (play by Ntozake Shange; part of Urban Zulu Mambo at Signature Theater, NYC, February 2001)
FOR COLORED BOYS...who have considered s-curls when the hot comb was enuf (Theatre Rhinoceros: San Francisco, CA, May 2001)
Honkies With Attitude (Moving Arts, Los Angeles, CA, May 2001)
Fat Chicks Go To Hell ("a woman struggles with body image, discrimination and abuse." Theater 22, NYC, March 2001)
The Taming Of Miss Shrew (Urban Fairytale Festival, NYC, April 2001)
CARTAS: a nun in love (Culture Project, NYC, March 2001).
Circumference of a Squirrel (Zachary Scott Theatre Center, Austin TX. April 2001).
The Venus de Milo is Armed ("a slapstick family drama about land mine atrocities." Kia Corthron play commissioned by Alabama Shakespeare Festival, June 2001)
MacHomer: The Simpsons `Do' Macbeth (Soulpepper company at Queens Quay West, Toronto, Canada, July 2001)
Egyptian Rat Screw (Common Factor LLC at Mint Space, NYC, July 2001)
Hot Fool Injection! (Sacred Fools Theatre, Hollywood, CA, April 2001)
From Where I'm Sitting (I can only reach your ass) (National Queer Arts Festival, San Francisco, CA, June 2001)
Me and My Fanny ("A Tribute to Fanny Brice." Arci's Place, NYC, December 2001)
Snuffhouse Dustlouse (Faulty Optic Theatre, Chicago, IL, June 2001)
Yippy Ti Yi Yance It's The Cowboy Thrance (Black Box Canyon, Hollywood, CA, June 2001)
Brace Yourself, It's Polio (Lunatique Fantastique at San Francisco Fringe Festival, San Francisco, CA, September 2001)
If Everyone is Leaping Thru the Window, They Must be Jumping to Conclusions (Hudson Guild Theatre, NYC, October 2001). Note: Named was changed to "Happily Skipping a Beat" following the September terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
GOOFY SYNOPSES
The Room on the Third Floor ("Concert and dance performance about an angel and his passage into `The Palace of The Hell.' Aerial tricks and real onstage tattooing." La MaMa ETC: NYC, February 2001).
Atomic Summer ("rural romance between a stubborn midwestern farmer and two teenage girls on a mission to save his soul. They're in for fun and surprises even bigger than the mutant calf in the basement." Theatre on the Square, Marietta, GA, scheduled for April 2002)
Love ("David S. Rosenthal explores the definition and parameters of `love' as a concept and his deeply-felt desire to have sex with supermodel Heidi Klum"; 13th Street Theatre, September 2001)
People Like Us ("A one-woman show in three monologues about lonely, delusional people linked by their longing for recognition in the world of karaoke." NY International Fringe Festival; NYC, August 2001)
The Twilight Series ("Meg, Josh, Annie and Simon convese only when the sun rises and sets, hoping to find meaning in these moments of reduced light. Covered from head to foot in a thick cake of white powder, the four characters are lost in a world of Elvis impersonators, road trips and room service." proto-type at HERE, NYC, July 2001)
Orphee ("The comfortably bourgeois world of the poet Orphee and his trophy wife Eurydice is turned upside-down by the ominous presence of a horse who taps out cryptic messages which may or many not be poetry. As Orphe becomes more and more devoted to his diabolical horse, Eurydice is tempted to swing with a crowd of Sapphic artists. Fortunately, Heurtebise, the androgynous and angelic glazier, flies in to repair a broken windowpane and the mythological romance. However, his efforts are foiled by Death who, entering through the mirror in the guise of a UPS worker, has other plans for the celebrity couple." Ontological Theater, NYC, July 2001)
The John (one-act, site-specific play staged in the basement men's room of San Francisco's Maritime Hall. "Middle-aged theatregoer named Alvin encounters Death during an intermission of King Lear. The two characters sing and swear at each other." Based on Ingmar Bergman's film, "The Seventh Seal." Maritime Hall, San Francisco, CA, June 2001)
Revenge of The Space Pandas (revival of David Mamet play. "Binky Rudich invents a Two Speed Clock which allows him to travel through Space and Time. Binky and his best friends, Vivian and Bob The Sheep, spin off the earth and land on the planet Crestview, which is ruled by the Evil George Topax and his army of Space Pandas. Binky, Vivian and Bob the Sheep must thwart Topax, escape Crestview and get back to Waukegan, Illinois in time for tuna casserole."
— by David Lefkowitz and the staff of Playbill On-Line
