Monday, Oct 07, 2024 • Cristal Gonzalez : contact

The University of Texas at Arlington Department of Theatre Arts and Dance presents Room Service, the 1937 comedy by American playwrights Allen Boretz and John Murray, famously made into a film by the Marx Brothers a year later.

The show will run for six performances in UTA’s Studio Theatre from Oct. 9-13 at 7:30 p.m., with matinee performances on Oct. 12 and 13 at 2 p.m.

Led by UTA faculty, the play is directed by Sebastian Trainor with scenic design by D.J. Badon, lighting and costume design by Phillip Schroeder, and sound design by Bill Eickenloff.

Room Service is pure, loony farce. In it, subversive theater producer Gordon Miller, neophyte playwright Leo Davis, and their company of 21 actors cannot meet the wealthy backer for their wonderful politically engaged play-with-a-message unless they remain at the Broadway hotel where they are all living—on vastly overextended credit. They can’t remain at the hotel unless they pay their bill, and they can’t pay their bill until they receive money from the backer.

“Our challenge in Room Service is to recapture the superabundant vitality of its original 1937 production, a runaway Broadway success that co-author Boretz deliberately embedded with pro-Labor, pro-Russian and anti-government motifs,” said Trainor. “The work is an example of how political and social themes are sometimes hidden in plain sight for American audiences.”

Trainor says that to help the play’s subversive undertones read to contemporary audiences, the show has cast women as the play’s three producers—but women who, in the 1937 world of the play, had to disguise themselves as men to be taken seriously in business, politics and public life.

Room Service assistant director and acting major Faith Beene echoed Trainor’s thoughts about the play.

“Audiences love a fun, upbeat farce. They love to witness whimsical shenanigans, and the actors love to do it alongside other people,” she said. “But this play also has some serious content that our production aims to bring out.”

Tickets are $22 for the general public and $10 for students, seniors and UTA faculty and staff. For tickets, visit https://utatickets.com/.

The Department of Theatre Arts and Dance in the College of Liberal Arts at UTA provides comprehensive undergraduate education through theory, research and practice in the performing arts, theatrical design and dance. The department’s educational environment is characterized by shared values, unity of purpose, diversity of opinion, mutual respect and a commitment to lifelong learning.

Room Service is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection. (www.dramatists.com)

- Written by the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance