'Good 'N Plenty' takes a sweet look at government
Play shows kids using candy 'drugs' to learn about law
By Ben Honingford
Media Credit: Courtesy of Tim Trumble
Ed Williams Jr., (left) Julia Fazakerly, and David Bianchi of Good N Plenty will perform their first show today at the Galvin Playhouse.
An energetic government teacher and a few licorice candies are stirring up trouble in the Herberger College Theatre Department's latest production.
"Good 'N Plenty" is an offbeat comedy about a group of high school students who are learning about the U.S. Constitution in a slightly different style.
"The show takes a look at just how education is delivered to the students," said director Jack Reuler. "The idea of infusing a sense of understanding using life situations helps raise the bar of understanding."
The play begins as teacher Richard Miller returns to his high school alma mater in 1976 to teach a government class to college-bound seniors. His students learn an important part of democracy - laughing at the government.
Instead of conducting a mock Constitutional Convention to teach his students, they participate in a simulated drug war and wreak havoc on the school.
The title "Good 'N Plenty" comes from a game Miller plays with his students in which licorice candy is used as a drug. The class simulates the different roles in the criminal justice system, including judges, defense attorneys, narcs and pushers.
"I think it's one of those side-splitting comedies," Reuler said. "People will be laughing so hard they won't be able to keep up with the play."
Members of the theatre department asked Reuler of Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis, Minn., to direct "Good 'N Plenty."
The political comedy has a cast of only eight members who play 23 different characters. Reuler said all the actors are undergraduates, which is a "testimony to the caliber of the program at ASU."
One scene calls for the performers to do what Reuler calls "rapid-fire" acting because they spin around on barstools to change characters.
"One guy plays two football-playing twins and the high school druggie who hasn't graduated in 10 years," Reuler said. "Another actor plays the valedictorian and the Bulgarian exchange student.
"Above all, people should come away feeling really entertained and maybe rethinking the way they think about education," Reuler said.
"Good 'N Plenty" is playing at the Paul V. Galvin Playhouse today, Saturday and April 23-26 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $5 for students.
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Reach the reporter at benjamin.honingford@asu.edu.