Bug

By Tracy Letts (author of KILLER JOE)

Directed by Micheal Herman

This comic thriller pits two lost souls—a crack-addicted divorcee and a young veteran with trouble in his past—against a vast conspiracy of increasingly scary enemies.

Mature audiences only.  Contains drug use, sex, violence, and nudity.

“The visceral wallop of Bug is likely to come as a shock even to fans of ‘Killer Joe’….Buckle up and brace yourself for the theater season’s wildest ride.”                      --Ben Brantley, New York Times, 3/1/04

Cast:  Karen Moeller as Agnes, Moritz Burnard as Peter, Douglas Holtz as Jerry, Andrea Varda as R.C., and featuring Sarah Whelan as Dr. Sweet.

Produced by Mercury Players at Bartell Theatre, Evjue Stage, Madison

Performances: January 12 - February 3, 2007

Shows are Wed.-Sat. evenings @ 8 pm
plus two Sunday matinees @ 2 pm:
Jan. 21 and Jan. 28.  [No matinee Sun. 1/14]
Wednesday is student night!   Students only $5.00 on Wednesdays.

General Admission Ticket Prices: $15 / $5 Student Wednesdays

Go to www.brownpapertickets.com for reservations, or 608-661-9696 x5 (Season Ticket Reservations) for additional information

Delusional Parasitosis:  A mistaken belief that one is being infested by parasites such as mites, lice, fleas, spiders, worms, bacteria, or other organisms.

The Story of Bug

         Karen Moeller plays Agnes, a waitress hiding in a motel outside Oklahoma City.  Agnes’ ex-husband Jerry (Doug Holtz), fresh out of prison, seems likely to ignore his restraining order.

         R.C., Agnes’ best friend (Andrea Varda), shows up one evening with soft-spoken Peter (Moritz Burnard), a young vet who has disturbing theories about the world.

         Bolstered by crack cocaine, the two fall in love, but Peter appears to be victim of a sinister conspiracy that manifests itself, slowly at first, as a massive bug infestation.  According to Ben Brantley, in his New York Times review, “Peter initiates Agnes into his perspective so gently, that by the time they have crossed the boundaries of sanity, neither she nor the audience knows quite what’s happened.”

         While R.C. tries in vain to be a reality check, an army psychiatrist named Dr. Sweet, played by Sarah Whelan, suddenly appears, with information she is not entirely willing to share.  Her appearance ups the ante of terror for both Agnes and Peter, and leads to a shocking, yet inevitable, climax.

Tracy Letts (playwright) is an award-winning playwright and actor and a longstanding ensemble member with Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, appearing most recently in The Pillowman. As a playwright, Letts’ work includes Killer Joe,Bug, and The Man From Nebraska. He was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was named as one of Time’s "Best of 2003."  A movie version of Bug, directed by William Friedken (The Exorcist) and starring Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon, who originated the role of Peter off Broadway, is due out in early 2007.

Show Personnel -- previous local performances

Karen Moeller (Agnes) starred in The Weir and Much Ado About Nothing with Strollers Ltd., and Betty’s Summer Vacation with Mercury Players.

Moritz Burnard (Peter) appeared in Stage Q’s Corpus Christi, Mercury Players’ Cementville, and Encore Studio’s Real Life.

Andrea Varda (R.C.) starred in the two-person play Collected Stories with Strollers, and also appeared in Strollers’ Macbeth.

Doug Holtz (Jerry) was Sam Walton’s head in Mercury Players’ Walmartopia, and also appeared in Mercury’s Killer Joe, as well as Stage Q’s Corpus Christi and First Banana’s Tracers.

Sarah Whelan (Dr. Sweet), our most distinguished grande dame of Madison theater, has performed nationally and internationally for 50 years.  Notable Madison appearances were Eleanor in A Lion in Winter (Strollers), Hannah in Hannah Free (Stage Q), and Lenore in Walmartopia.

Micheal Herman (director) has directed Balm in Gilead, The Goat, and The Glory of Living for Mercury Players Theatre, and The Most Fabulous Story and The Sum of Us for Stage Q.