There’s no shortage of comedic material in that brightly lit, colorless thing called the office, as anyone who has ever feebly decorated his or her very own cubicle — or has, at least, watched an episode of The Office — can tell you. The Horse Trade Theater Group explores the “PowerPointlessness” of office life in its new multimedia comedy, Work: A Play, which centers on a large, not-to-be-trusted corporation named Ouroboros (“Riding you into the future!”).
A fantastically talented cast of nine actors — Jeremy Banks, Alicia Barnatchez, Jesse Bernath, Sabrina Farhi, Jeremy Mather, Michele McNally, Alexis Robbins, Jeff Sproul, and D. Robert Wolcheck — brings almost 30 characters to life on stage, and over a dozen other actors appear in the digital video shorts that pepper the play. There’s the highly strung manager who declares a presentation to be “too PowerPointy,” the frumpy trainer who finds flaw after flaw in a new hire’s phone manner, and the nameless temp whose death has gone unnoticed for hours.
One of the best segments is a corporate training video concerning workplace restroom etiquette; it’s tightly written, laugh-out-loud material concerning the specific dos and don’ts of peeing and pooping at work. For example, always “respect the flush” — when two people in the restroom are both, clearly, doing number twos, whoever flushes first gets to leave first, and should do so quickly, so that the other person can come out of his or her stall. Know that until you leave, the other person is trapped. The identity of the other pooper must never be known, to save embarrassment.
The action is not restricted to the training room. Work also takes an entertaining, if slightly disturbing, look at Ouroboros’s corporate conscious through a series of TV ads. One cheery, airbrushed ad is for Ouroboros Pharmaceuticals’ “Infantilyde” products for expectant mothers. Does your fetus seem subdued? Choose our Zoloft-infused Infantilyde pills. If your unborn baby is kicking too much, choose Infantilyde enriched with Ritalin. The ad promoting Ouroboros Financial is also a treat: “Give us your money, and dare to dream.”
The Horse Trade Theater Group has created a corporation you don’t want to be a part of — as an employee, or as a consumer. Work: A Play is fun stuff, and it’d probably be even more fun if it didn’t feel so frighteningly true. If you’re in a job that feels “PowerPointless,” escape the fluorescent lights and retreat into the comforting darkness of UNDER St. Marks. The basement theater’s future is uncertain, so consider donating to help keep this important East Village performance space alive.
Work: A Play; Written by Jeremy Mather, Lindsey Moore & Jeff Sproul; Directed by Lindsey Moore; UNDER St. Marks; 94 St. Marks Place. www.horsetrade.info
