Wal*Mart-ians is a play written and directed by Steven Young, an Associate Professor of Theatre at TWU.
This play was originally produced in Chicago and won the 2003 Chicago Arts and Entertainment award for best comedy of the year. From the Theater press release, the show is explained as “an apocalyptic comedy set in small-town Iowa. It is the 70th birthday of the cash-strapped but land-rich widow, Jan Gunter” and “The setting becomes a literal powder keg set to explode at any moment as the characters tear each other, and themselves, apart.”
The following questions were given to theatre personnel Michael Diaz, Blair Mitchell, and Patrick Bohmier.
Lasso: Why did you want to be involved in this show?
Bohmier: “Honestly the name alone kind of sold me on it. It’s such a catchy name, and the way he described it during one of the last meetings last semester, he described it as an extinction theory based on the people of Walmart, and that alone sold me on the show.”
Lasso: What day is the best day to come?
Bohmier: “Opening night is always a hot show.”
Lasso: How is your character like yourself, and how is it different?
Diaz: “My character Cathy, she’s very weird and she’s funny. The weird part, that’s where we’re the same, I’m a little weird. The funny part is where we are different. I’m not very funny. I think that’s a challenge for me.”
Lasso: What do you love about your character?
Diaz: “I love that my character is just out there. She says whatever she wants.”
Mitchell: “She’s my favorite character in the show”
Lasso: Without giving anything away, what is your favorite line of the dialogue?
Mitchell: “I feel the comfort of Jesus.”
Diaz: “I saw Tony Orlando use the bathroom, then the security guard made me leave for trying to take pictures.”
Lasso: What’s the last thing you do before going on stage?
Mitchell: “Check my fly, just a finger right there, it’s closed I’m good.”
Diaz: “I just take deep breaths!”
Lasso: How do you feel about Wal*Marti-ians being the season opener?
Bohmier: “I think it’s great. It starts it off with a bang”
Mitchell: “I think it’s perfect. I think the fact that the playwright is the director is a really unique opportunity for us, because we can change whatever we want during rehearsal. We can add lines, almost every rehearsal he’s added at least a line.”
Lasso: How does this play stand out from others?
Bohmier: “It’s really absurd, the peer sense that this family could never survive in the real world, it’s so dysfunctional, so chaotic.”
Lasso: Is there anything you want the audience to know before coming to see the play?
Diaz: “Get ready!”
Bohmier: “Buckle up!”
Lasso: Is there anything you want to add?
Bohmier: “Saturday morning is pay what you can, you can get in for like a quarter.”
Mitchell: “Don’t get offended.”
Bohmier: “The best way to come to this show is open- minded and without children.”
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