 Lucas Myers of Nelson brought a well-written and hilarious play, Deck, which was presented at the Rotary Centre for the Arts last year, playing the part of first-time deck-building experience, which culminated with audience members actually building a deck on stage. This year, he brings the comedy of raising a child — but taken from a male perspective, even offering hints to fathers-to-be. |
But on this day, playwright Lucas Myers is carving time out to first, do an interview, and second, to figure out how to clip the nails on the family guinea pig.
"Seriously, you have to clip the nails on their 'fingers' because they aren't in the wild where it happens naturally as they roam around," Myers said, answering the questioning pleas of 'Dad, when are you?' from his six-year-old daughter.
Juggling several balls while keeping his cool seems to come naturally to the Nelson actor/writer/musician who has carved a niche for himself in the world of drama and acting by proving he has quite the funny bone.
Myers revealed his quirky wit when it comes to penning a well-crafted and hilarious play as he unveiled his play Deck, which was presented at the Rotary Centre for the Arts last year. Full of true-to-life characters, the play brought down the house with his antics of a naïve first-time deck-building experience, which culminated with audience members actually building a deck on stage.
This season, Myers has another play aimed at every man who has experienced the joy/terror of becoming a dad, any man who is a dad, knows a dad, or has a dad.
Aptly named Hello Baby, this one-man comedy examines the procreative process from the male perspective, and takes to the RCA stage Thursday and Friday, with shows at 7:30 p.m.
Myers' has a hilarious and unique brand of observational humour that blends seamlessly with the multitude of characters he brings on stage with him.
In Hello Baby, he has created nine "semi-fictional, eclectic" characters that examine and question the process of becoming a father.
"I've used some real life experiences, extrapolated others and added some polish," Myers said. "The whole thing about becoming a father leaves most men wondering what's going on, what's going to happen.
"During the nine months, the woman has lots of attention, lots of help and information, and rightly so -Â she's the one doing the heavy lifting," he noted.
"But no one takes into account that us guys have to deal with the fact that we are going to be responsible for a life. A human being. It's terrifying. But being guys, we have to be stoic. Be the rock. So we don't ask for information and no one gives it to us.
"But what we see is our 'life as we know it' sailing away, never to be seen again. No more standing at the barbeque, happily wasted," he joked.
The father of two "delightful and amazing" daughters, now six and three years old, Myers catches the everyday events of parenthood and deftly turns those pros and cons into laughter.
In the play, he muses about men being fathers, switching easily from character to character with deft costume and prop changes, as well as donning appropriate voices and characteristics. Adding to the vision, Meyers also includes original ballads performed on the ukulele, guitar and miniature keyboard.
"It's kind of billed as a one-man look at the first nine months from a how-to seminar that deals with the various challenges, with original songs," Myers added.
Presented as a mock lecture by a first-time semi-competent father, the audience will meet Randy the Redneck, a too-visual sex therapist, himself and even Myers' mother-in-law.
"Certainly there's a seed of truth to all of the characters, but most is just extrapolated from real life. I'd be in the dog house for the next 10 years if all of it, especially the mother-in-law stuff, was true," he said.
The comedy offers helpful hints to fathers-to-be such as "is it really possible to operate a fax machine/belt sander/breast pump on two hours sleep?"
And "is it really possible to become so obsessed with bowel movements and nipples that you make up nicknames for them?"
"You see where this is going, right?" Myers half-asks, half-answers his own logic. "It's all the things you were afraid to ask in prenatal classes. There's drool warnings and time management and hyper-paranoia about germs."
Myers added that the play makes a point in that men "need more information, and they also need to relax."
"Just to realize, hey, I'm not alone in this and someone is showing some compassion is worthwhile," Myers said.
Myers is the founder and creative mind behind his theatre company Pilot.co.Pilot, based in Nelson.
QUICKFACTS
What: Hello Baby, presented by Lucas Myers. A comedy about the joys and fears of becoming a first-time father.
When: Thursday, Jan. 24 and Friday, Jan. 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Where: Mary Irwin Theatre, Rotary Centre for the Arts
Tickets: Available at the RCA box office, 250-717-5304.
