Linda Marie Ford as Jenny Brown in “Love of a Pig” by Leslie Caveny.
Throughout the year, we’ve been counting down the top 30 shows in Pegasus Theatre’s 30-year history. The method of selection is quite unscientific, based on the subjective opinions of Kurt and Barb. A show might get into the top 30 because it was especially popular with our audience, or because we were especially proud of it, or because it marked a milestone in our history.
Love of a Pig by Leslie Caveny is difficult to pigeon-hole. It’s on the list for a combination of reasons. It was indeed popular with audiences, and we were indeed quite proud of it. We were the first theatre to perform it after its Los Angeles premiere the year before. The playwright came for Tech Week and Opening Week. It was exhilarating!
At this point in our history (1990), we had gained a reputation for excelling at three types of plays:
- Campy satires (like Vampire Lesbians of Sodom by Charles Busch);
- The Living Black & White™ comedy murder-mysteries by Kurt Kleinmann; and
- Relationship comedies (like A Girl’s Guide to Chaos by Cynthia Heimel).
Love of a Pig fell into the latter category. It tells the story of Jenny and her ongoing search for love. It was fast-paced, hip, energetic… And it was only an hour long.
This was a problem. Our audience expected a full evening of theatre when they came to Pegasus Theatre. And that meant at least 90 minutes, preferably a little more. What to do?
“Well,” we reasoned, “we are a theatre specializing in comedy. Why not add a stand-up comic to the evening to warm the crowd up?” And so we did! We hired the lovely and talented Katie Maris to provide a first act.
It worked beautifully! Katie’s stage presence, her material, her timing—all of it was consistent with the play. Our audience was happy, the playwright was happy, and we were very happy indeed!