Director's Note

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One of the funniest plays ever written, this extraordinarily  inventive, side splitting comedy was first presented by the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, then produced in Great Britain, the went on to Broadway.   The action centers on the hilarious dilemma of Willum Cubbert, an aspiring young architect in Terre Haute, Indiana.  Willum has often told his friends about the debt he owes to Rick Steadman, a fellow ex-GI whom he has never met but who saved his life after he was seriously wounded in Vietnam.  He has written to Rick to say that, as long as he is alive, "you will have somebody on Earth who will do anything for you"- so Willum is delighted when Rick shows up enexpectedly at his apartment on the night of his thirty-fourth birthday party.  But his delight soon fades as it becomes apparent that Rick is a hopeless "nerd"- a bumbling oaf with no social sense, little intelligence, less tact, and who outstays his welcome with a vengeance.   Rick's continued presence among Willum and his friends leads to one uproarious incident after another, until the normally placid Willum finds himself contemplating violence- a dire development which, happily, is staved off by the suprising, "twist" ending of the play.