SEQUIM — Uh-oh.
The National Endowment for the Arts has sent an inspector to Olympic Theatre Arts, just as the local thespians are putting on Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”
The players at OTA try to figure out who among them is the spy. Moreover, a pot of much-needed grant money depends on what the inspector thinks of the troupe.
When a young man shows up to audition, the crew decides he’s the one from the NEA. Never mind that he is horrendous during his tryout.
Then the real, live NEA inspector shows up — unbeknownst to cast and crew — to watch a dress rehearsal. Which turns into a night no one will forget.
So begins “Inspecting Carol,” the comedy to arrive Sunday at OTA after some mishaps of its own.
Originally scheduled to open Friday, “Inspecting” will have its first performance at 2 p.m. Sunday, for the preview price of $8 for all seats.
Earlier this week, a cast member was injured and technical problems befell the crew, so opening night has been moved to next Friday, Nov. 22.
A special pay-what-you-wish performance, however, is still slated for this Wednesday, Nov. 20.
On opening night next Friday, a champagne reception will follow the 7:30 p.m. show, and then the play is off on a two-week run, with curtain times at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 1 at OTA, 414 N. Sequim Ave.
Veteran Sequim actor and director Lee Harwell is at the helm of “Inspecting Carol,” directing a cast that features Jan Bolla as the secret agent from the NEA, Richard Hendricksen as Larry the diva, and Damon D. Little as Tiny Tim. Oh, and since Richard Hauf had to bow out, Harwell is taking on his role as the kind, somewhat addled thespian Sydney Carlton.
Sam Kirk, Sharon DelaBarre, Tracy Williams, Debbie Bourquin, Steve Schultz, James Willis and Karl Hatton also appear in “Inspecting,” a play that originated at the Seattle Repertory Theater in 1991.
It has been called “A Christmas Carol” meets “The Government Inspector” meets “Noises Off!,” and has come to stages around the country.
It’s been in Sequim before too. In the late 1990s Steve Tharinger, now a state legislator, was the director. Also that time, DelaBarre played her character, Zorah Bloch, for the first time.
In “Inspecting,” everything that can go wrong does. For one thing, the stage collapses. And since Tiny Tim is holding a punch bowl at the time, the bowl gets dumped into the NEA spy’s lap.
This show has a big backstage crew taking care of it all: Amanda Tait on the lights, Phil Mortenson and Pam Bennett running the sound, Glenn Barton, Harwell, Hauf, Carl Honore and Sharon and Del DelaBarre building the sets.
Elaine Caldwell and Sharon DelaBarre are the set painters, Patty Davis and Maryann Ballard are the dressers, Davis and Honore are the costumers, Rosalyn Scott is props mistress and Penny Pemberton is the stage manager.
Together, they have created “a wondrous, irreverent spoof,” said Harwell, of all that we love — and laugh about — when live theater happens in a small town.
Tickets to “Inspecting Carol,” starting next Friday, are $16 for adults, $14 for active-duty military and OTA members, and $10 for children 16 and younger.
Reservations and details await at www.OlympicTheatreArts.org and at the box office, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays at 360-683-7326.
