Speed reading has never been this much fun

Haven’t read all the world’s greatest books? You don’t need CliffsNotes; Thibodaux Playhouse has the perfect alternative.

So you’re confused by Confucius? Thoroughly thrown by Thoreau? Well, take a trip back to a high school remedial class, where a passing grade in World Literature is required to graduate.

The audience finds itself enrolled in a crash course in Western Lit – everything from the Greeks to present day. “All the Great Books (Abridged)” condenses 90 books into 90 minutes. Let’s see CliffsNotes try to pull that off!

Penned by the Reduced Shakespeare Company – the so-called “Bad Boys of Abridgement” – this is the latest zany compression of all-things-great-and-good packed in the most offbeat, side-splitting ways. Anyone who’s seen “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged),” “The Complete Word of God (abridged)” or “The Complete Millennium Musical (abridged)” – all RSC works – understands.

No classic is safe from parody … from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” to Ernest Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”

If literature had a “Greatest Hits” volume, this is it … on speed.

At the helm of our class are three teachers: Coach (Paul Cook), the drama teacher (Blake Petit) and a student teacher (Damon Stentz).

The able cast is familiar to the Thibodaux Playhouse stage.

A recent Nicholls State University graduate, Cook previously appeared in “Don’t Drink the Water,” “Bless Me Father” and “Lucky Stiff.” He’s also appeared in shows in Houma and New Orleans since the mid-1990s. And he’s a board member of the Thibodaux Playhouse.

Stentz is as well, having recently been named vice president of the theatre group. This is his fifth appearance in a Thibodaux Playhouse show.

Petit, who has appeared in RSC’s “Shakespeare (abridged)” production, also handles the directing role in this production. An English teacher at Central Lafourche High School, the Ama native most recently appeared in “Annie.” He’s also directed a number of shows, including “The 3-D Radio Show,” which he wrote.

Our fearless trio is given the task, in our failing school, of remediating the audience in preparation for a big test.

Classics like “The Illiad” and “The Odyssey” are combined as a joint work called “The Oddity.” Coach takes liberties with “Little Women,” mapping it out on a blackboard in terms of football plays. And, roll over, Charles Dickens; the production revamps “A Christmas Carol” into a steamy soap opera titled “Port Charles.”

Expect plenty of arguments about political correctness, censorship and “the literary canon.”

‘All The Great Books (abridged)’

Where: Thibodaux Playhouse

When: Oct. 7-9 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 10 at 2 p.m.

Cost: $10 for adults; $8 for students and children

Plot: In a failing public school, three teachers are called upon to remediate their class in the great works of literature of all time, from Wuthering Heights through Harry Potter. Ninety books in 90 minutes … enjoy the rollercoaster ride.

For Info: (985) 446-1896