The write-up in today's newspaper...

Thank you Janet.

Play Review: HSU's 'Complete History' is total blast
By Janet Van Vleet / Reporter-News Staff Writer September 8, 2005

From the founding fathers to Abraham Lincoln to American Indians, no one is safe from the irreverent comedy of ''The Complete History of America (abridged)'' - not even the audience.

Directed by senior Carrie Helms, the first show of the Hardin-Simmons University theater season featured three talented actors playing ... themselves. Brad Ellison, Melia McFarland and Eric Peets guide the crowd from America's earliest beginnings to the present.

Filled with sight gags (Peets as a woman in bad wigs and dresses), so-lame-it's-funny puns (''Lucy in disguise with Diamond'') and jokes that fly so fast they're easy to miss (so listen carefully), it's just plain fun.

The distinctive-voiced Ellison played various characters, such as the grim Salem preacher making church announcements about making nooses and thumb screws during arts and crafts. He performed one of his funniest bits, about conspiracies, while lying on the ground. Now that's good delivery.

McFarland and Peets zoomed in and out, dropping one-liners and ba-da-bum moments. Peets' poem about the colonists that segued into a rap cracked everyone up. During a radio broadcast, McFarland booms the cymbals. Why? ''Heavy cymbalism.''

The Lincoln assassination involves a hand puppet, a huge admission ticket and a recurring cardboard bullet - it must be seen to get the full impact. Believe me, its funny.

The cheekiness of the actors and the cleverness of the writing make this a very comical show.

If you're in the audience, beware - audience participation isn't voluntary. By the way, take heed of the warning about a ''splash zone'' (umbrellas optional).

If you go ...
What: ''The Complete History of America (abridged)'' (comedy)
When: 8 p.m. tonight-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Van Ellis Theatre, Hardin-Simmons University
How much: $5 adults, $3 students, free for HSU students, faculty, staff