Laughing Stock, performed by the Asolo Theatre Company, earns chuckles by telling the story of a New England theater company attempting to put on a summer stock set of shows. The fictional troupe includes a group of characters recognizable to anyone who's done time in the theater world: the hopelessly ditzy actress and the swaggering, ultra-conceited actor; the wide-eyed group of interns; a production assistant with a mysterious past; an overworked and underpaid designer; and a miserable, psycho-lesbian co-director. The plays-within-a-play format allows playwright Charles Morey plenty of room for parody, irony and hilarious flubs on the part of the rag tag group of actors, who struggle to successfully produce three separate plays (Charley's Aunt, Hamlet and a new adaptation of Dracula) in a barn-turned-theater. This isn't theater; it's meta-theater.
Laughing Stock, through Feb. 2, all shows at 2 or 8 p.m. (call for specific show dates), Mertz Theatre, FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets cost $16-$48. For more info: 351-8000, 800-361-8388 or www.asolo.org.
This article appears in Dec 14-20, 2005.