This Movie may be bringing Abbie Hoffman to the big screen this summer, but Mary-Arrchie Theatre Co.'s Rich Cotovsky has been portraying him for over a decade. This year's line-up includes A Red Orchid Theatre, The Hypocrites, The Factory Theatre, improv group Sirens, and performance artist Jennifer Biddle. Performances follow one right after another, with no scheduled transition time, so a strong sense of cooperation is required of everyone involved. Once you point the skis, you just go down. A portion of the theatre's regular seating is taken out to help establish a living room atmosphere around the stage where audience members can lounge on a sofa or just sit on the floor.
Show times are also unconventional.
Prime time slots range from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. since there's almost always a large, enthusiastic audience on hand during those hours. A Red Orchid Theatre Company goes a step further by continually scheduling their shows at five in the morning. This year, they're offering President Talk early Saturday and Sunday. Amazingly, Cotovsky stays awake throughout most of this, much like Jerry Lewis during his Labor Day telethon. It generally happens at no more than an hour at a time, at six or seven in the morning.