This play is Steve Martin’s adaptation of the farce by Carl Sternheim.
Set in 1910 Dusseldorf, Germany, The Underpants opens with a scandalous situation: Louise is a young wife whose underpants have accidentally fallen down in public. More concerned about losing his reputation and government job than his wife’s comfort, her husband Theo is happy to rent their spare room to a number of male boarders who seem suddenly interested in living there. From a poet to a barber to a scientist and finally even the King, Louise has to deal with their secretive advances, urged onto adventure by her nosy upstairs neighbor, Gertrude.
The conceptual approach can be summed up in a statement I made to the press:
At first it seems silly that so many men are reduced to idiots by something as simple as a glimpse of panties, until I remembered that our whole entertainment and advertising industries are based on that kind of thing.
This production served as a vehicle for our more advanced students to showcase their talents, including scene design, lighting design, and senior research in performance by Bimini Wright, who played the central role and object of desire.
Credits: Scenic Design by Angela Stauss, Lighting by Holly Bennett, Costumes by Elise Holt, Sound by Bimini Wright. Stetson University, February 2010.