The Nerd takes place in Wisconsin in the year of 1979. The play follows Willum Cubbert, played by Tim Sanford, as he welcomes Rick Stedman, played by Matt Miller, into his apartment. Willum credits Rick with saving his life during the Vietnam War, and thus feels that he owes him. Soon this debt becomes less significant to Willum as Rick’s annoying antics drive him crazy. This causes he and his friends, Axle Hammond, played by Tommy Carnes, and Tansy McGinnis, played by Olivia Lattanzi, to devise a plan to remove Rick from their lives.
Willum is eventually able to kick Rick out of his apartment, allowing him to take a new outlook on life; accepting a promising job in Virginia where he will be able to “court Tansy until she cracks,” as he so woefully exclaimed to the audience. This hilarious play ends with a great plot twist. In reality, Axle hired a friend to pretend to be Rick Stedman, in the hopes that this will allow Willum to admit his unhappiness and change his life. Axle’s plan works.
This riotous comedy had the audience laughing non-stop throughout the peformance. The play was the funniest when the gang was imitating a “pagan ritual”in hopes of scaring Rick into leaving, involving some spastic dancing and the use of mops. I enjoyed the sarcastic jokes thrown in throughout the performance even more so.
Besides the fantastic script, the set was equally amazing. We were informed in the beginning of the play that there had been a slight mishap with the fire curtain, which resulted in the inability for the curtain to be brought back up to the rafters. To solve this obstacle, a makeshift stage was built. Ironically, I hadn’t seen such an detailed set since Black Comedy, which was put on two years ago.
From the furniture to the wooded walls, the apartment of Willum truly made me feel like I was in the 1970’s. Mr. Stephen MacDonald, who worked on set design, did a wonderful job. The lights and sound effects used to create the presence of a car was another favorite of mine. Wardrobe Mistress, Isabel Murray, and her crew, Grace Savini and Lizzie Schwartz, put together great costumes for the crew that again captured the time period of this play flawlessly. My favorite were the plaid jackets worn by Willum, and the yellow and orange checkered dress worn by Tansy in the opening scene.
The Nerd restored the reputation of the Drama Club. I haven’t seen a play with such genuine humor that actually made me laugh out loud since Black Comedy, and The Nerd surpassed it. I hope the RMHS Drama Club continues with these more realistic and humorous scripts. These make the audience wish the plays were more than two hours for once, rather than checking their phones every ten minutes, estimating how long until intermission.