Screwball by Beau Jest

Screwball! is Beau Jest’s loving tribute to the screwball comedy genre.

This unique production is a live stage adaptation of Preston Sturges’ classic 1941 film Sullivan’s Travels, in which a well-known comic film director decides to make a serious movie. What would be the theatrical equivalent? How could the absurd plot points and rapid-fire dialogue be translated to the stage? We found an enormous reservoir of untapped, positive theatrical energy embedded in the farcical depression-era films that defined the screwball genre. Translating that vocal and physical energy to the stage was the challenge we set ourselves. In doing so, we found that comedy is a weapon that can respond to injustice by instilling hope and joy during dark times. And it’s a love story with enough original Beau Jest plot twists to satisfy and surprise fans of the original movie. Films like It Happened One Night and Some Like It Hot endure in part because there are universal truths about human nature embedded under the snappy dialogue and farcical situations. We wanted to embrace the style of those classic films while also responding to the current social and political moment of a divided America.

Run time 75 minutes no intermission