Sam & Jim saunter to the cruel side with ‘The Shape of Things’

Houma’s Sam & Jim Acting Company bills itself as “offering cruel and unusual theatre since 2006,” the year the troupe was founded.

In the three works the company has staged, it offered the “unusual,” including the Steve Martin’s comedic play, “Picasso at the Lapin Agile,” and the absurdist warhorse, “Waiting for Godot.”

In the first offering of its new season, however, the outfit will be exploring the “cruel” aspect of its motto.

The company is staging the Neil LaBute 2001 drama “The Shape of Things” at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center Aug. 29 through Sept. 2 and Sept. 5 through Sept. 9.

Playwright and moviemaker LaBute, whose specialty is portraying worldly characters inflicting extreme emotional cruelties on the unwitting, is best known for the very low-budget 1997 film version of his college play, “In the Company of Men.”

In that movie, two businessmen, brandishing the wounds they had received in recent love relationships, seek to revenge themselves on the opposite sex by plotting to woo, and then deliberately dump, their office secretary, who is deaf.

The scheme is thrown awry when one of the men falls for the secretary, suggesting that there is room for redemption in LaBute’s dark world.

But in “The Shape of Things,” LaBute tosses the audience little or no table scraps of consolation.

For most of the play, all goes well for the gawky main character Adam, a college student working as a guard at the local art museum who becomes involved with Evelyn, a comely art student.

Evelyn seems well-intentioned as she attempts to turn Adam into a 21st century version of the Fonz, mellowing out his appearance and personality.

She is not exactly how she portrays herself, however. LaBute shifts the drama into a different context with a surprise ending that has reportedly left some audience members gasping during previous productions.

“Things” director is Charles “Bootsy” Savoy IV, 36. The play’s producer is Anthony Taub, also 36. Both are Sam & Jim’s co-artistic directors. The two have said that they want to bring some of the corrosively-themed plays more commonly staged in New Orleans to the Tri-parish area.

“We’re the nicest theatre company in south Louisiana,” Taub said. “Anyone who says we aren’t can (engage in a dangerous activity).”

He went on to lament “sarcasm is not the forte of people in the Tri-parish area,”

and he put forth the prospect of “a viable arts scene in our humble abode.”

Sam & Jim’s production features Joshua Stelly as Adam, 17-year-old Lauren Erwin as Evelyn, and Toni Lynn Guidry and Ben Vidros as an engaged couple who were, at one time, Adam’s girlfriend and buddy.

Stelly, Erwin and Guidry all performed in Sam & Jim’s “Picasso.”

Vidros has acted in Le Petit Theatre de Terrebonne productions.

“He’s a very relaxed” person normally, Taub said. “But when he reads, a switch is flipped and he becomes different.”

The dramatis personae for “Things” is limited to the four actors. No other characters appear in the play.

Local musicians Chris Evans and Trey Cloutier wrote music specifically for Sam & Jim’s “Things.” The pair will play their compositions during each of the 10 performances.

Taub said that LaBute’s works merely play out the ugly impulses found in people.

“People do manipulate,” he said. “The strong prey on the weak. It’s a part of life. It would be artistically dishonest to ignore.”

“People are used to writers telling them everything,” he said. “LaBute wants you to do the work. As a watcher, you have to wrestle with the issue, or make the choice to dismiss it.”

Taub said that LaBute keeps his characters’ machinations within the realm of believability.

“It’s damn interesting theatre,” he said. “Our plays have an underlying theme: Hell is other people.”

Taub said that he and Savoy discover new ambiguities in “Things” each time they rehearse the play.

“The final scene has no clear moral conclusion,” he said. “It’s up to you to figure it out.”

In a broader sense, Taub and Savoy were being cheeky when they called the Sam & Jim Acting Company after the familiar names of the immortal Irish authors Samuel Beckett and James Joyce.

Savoy needs all the protection irony affords after a group of older theatergoers called him by his adorable moniker “Bootsy” during Sam & Jim’s first production.

Which, for Taub, holds out the hope that the sarcasm-challenged in the Tri-parish area can also become cynical, jaded (insert your plural noun).

Showtimes for “The Shape of Things” are at 8 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and at 3 p.m. for the weekend presentations. Tickets are on sale beginning Aug. 7 at Cristiano’s Ristorante (724 High St. in Houma, (985) 851-4474), Tuesdays through Thursdays, from 2-5 p.m. Tickets cost $10 for senior citizens, young people under 21, and active and retired military personnel. The price is $15 for the rest of the public.

Editor’s Note:”Things” is intended for mature audiences because of language and sexual themes. Sam & Jim recommends that parents accompany teenagers. The play is around 90 minutes, but it has no intermission. “People can sit through a two-hour movie,” Taub reasons.