News Release

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Coverage note: See end of story for information on
covering a talk by director and D-Day veteran Gene Saks
at noon Wednesday (Sept. 27) in the Paul Green Theatre.

Bourgeoisie lampooned in 'Underpants,'
adapted by comedian Steve Martin

CHAPEL HILL - When his beautiful young wife's underpants fall around her ankles during a public parade, a German bureaucrat anticipates a scandal.

What results is entirely different in the rest of the tale, "The Underpants," a comedy to be staged Oct. 4-29 by PlayMakers Repertory Company at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Directed by three-time Tony Award winner Gene Saks, PlayMakers will present Steve Martin's adaptation of the farce, written by German playwright Carl Sternheim in 1910. Show times will be 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays in the Paul Green Theatre, inside the Center for Dramatic Art on Country Club Road.

Saks will answer questions about "The Underpants" as well as his career in a free public program in the Paul Green Theatre, set to start at noon Wednesday (Sept. 27). Joseph Haj, PlayMakers' producing artistic director, will join him. The program, which also will offer an early look at the set, will be the first of five lunchtime directors' talks preceding PlayMakers' shows this season.

"The Underpants" was the first of Sternheim's plays lampooning the German bourgeoisie. In the story, the spectacle in the parade stirs the passions and devotion of two onlookers. They soon become the bureaucrat's new lodgers, leading to a comic tale that tests the limits of propriety and explores the fleeting nature of overnight celebrity.

"In the capable hands of Steve Martin and Gene Saks, 'The Underpants' proves that German farce is not an oxymoron," Haj said. "Martin's adaptation deftly lampoons the American preoccupation with fame while it delights audiences with its laugh-out-loud slapstick."

Saks, 85, was among allied troops storming the beach at Normandy on D-Day. He has said that experience was less hazardous than his career in theater. A director of Broadway productions and feature films for more than 50 years, Saks first directed PlayMakers' in "The Front Page" last season.

He won the Tony in 1977 for directing the musical "I Love My Wife" and in 1983 and 1985, respectively, for the plays "Brighton Beach Memoirs" and "Biloxi Blues." Long a collaborator with Neil Simon in theater and film, Saks also directed "Mame," "Rumors," "Lost in Yonkers" and other Broadway productions.

In London, for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Saks directed "The Man Who Came to Dinner." He was elected to the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1991 and has won awards for lifetime achievement and contributions in the arts.

Saks' work in film included acting in "A Thousand Clowns" (1965) with Jason Robards, "The Prisoner of Second Avenue" (1975) with Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft, and "Nobody's Fool" (1994) with Paul Newman; and directing "Barefoot in the Park" (1967), "The Odd Couple" (1968), "Last of the Red Hot Lovers" (1972), "Brighton Beach Memoirs" (1986) and "A Fine Romance." (1992).

Steve Martin, well known as a comedian and actor, is an accomplished essayist, playwright, producer and author as well. His 1993 play, "Picasso at the Lapin Agile," enjoyed critical and box office success across America; a film based on "Picasso" is in pre-production. The Classic Stage Company of New York City commissioned Martin to adapt "The Underpants" and premiered the result in 2002.

PlayMakers' version will star guest artists Matthew Patterson (as the bureaucrat, Theo Maske) and Winslow Corbett (Louise Maske). Patterson has appeared in more than 50 plays across Texas. Corbett, a New York and regional theater regular, appeared in Lifetime Television's 1998 movie "Change of Heart."

PlayMakers company members in the cast will be Jeffrey Blair Cornell (Benjamin Cohen), Ray Dooley (Klinglehoff), John Feltch (Frank Versati), Julie Fishell (Gertrude Deuter) and Kenneth P. Strong (King). The production team will include Marion Williams (costumes and sets), Charlie Morrison (lighting) and Michèl Marrano (sound).

Tickets are $10 to $40. Call (919) 962-PLAY (7529) for information or tickets. For more about PlayMakers, visit http://www.playmakers.org.

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Photo URLs: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/playmakers/saks_gene.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/playmakers/highres_underpants.jpg

Coverage note: Media are welcome to cover the preview and talk by director Gene Saks at noon Wednesday (Sept. 27). Reporters may ask questions during his session with members of the public attending and for about 20-30 minutes afterward. Photography, videography, lights and flashes are not restricted. For a detailed biography of Saks, contact Pam O'Connor.

PlayMakers contact: Pam O'Connor, (919) 621-1230, pamo@nc.rr.com
College of Arts and Sciences contact: Dee Reid, (919) 843-6339, deereid@unc.edu