Even though the curtain may be closed for this year’s production of “The Bottom of Everything,” the cast and crew may have more to look forward to.
“The Bottom of Everything,” an original production by Baker theater major Denver Little, opened for its second year on Baker’s stage from Nov. 20 to Nov. 22 in Darby-Hope Theatre. The cast put on an additional performance for Baker students Sunday.
The story takes place after Derek gets out of prison and Curtis invites him to move into his apartment with his roommates Wes and Nate. Throughout the play bad things keep happening to Derek.
“Derek captured the essence of college students that have to maintain a job and go to school,” junior Bob Linebarger said. “He really stresses that no matter what happens you have to keep going.”
While the program is known on campus for its adult content, including smoking on the stage, the performance may be moving on to bigger and better things. The show has been entered into the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.
The play will be compared to undergraduate as well as graduate programs of equal and greater size to Baker to be considered for performance at the festival.
“I just really hope the show gets to go because the performers and Denver (Little) have put so much work into this,” sophomore Courtney West said. “It’s such a great show that I’m proud to have a small part in.”
If the show makes it to the festival, West will run soundboard for the production.
Linebarger said adjudicators came to watch the performance to report back to the Festival Selection Committee on the quality of the performance.
“We were told this show was being held for consideration,” Patti Heiman, instructor of mass media and communication, said. “This is much like a football team waiting to see what bowl game they get into or if they make the playoffs.”
The Festival Selection Committee will meet Dec. 13 and 14 to review the shows that have been nominated to perform. Heiman, the director of “The Bottom of Everything,” will know if the play has been selected to perform Dec. 14.
“This has never happened at Baker,” Linebarger said. “It’s a pretty big deal. We are being compared to schools as big as (the University of Kansas) and (Kansas State University).”
Actors involved in a show that has been entered into the festival are eligible for an Irene Ryan nomination. Nominated students compete against other nominees at the festival for scholarships. Linebarger, junior Josh Morgan and senior Kyle Dyck have been nominated for their part in “The Bottom of Everything.”
“Anybody deserved it,” Linebarger said, who has been nominated once before. “It’s definitely an honor to be nominated once let alone twice.”