A rather fat man in a black suit is sitting in his living room blowing up an oversized, vinyl sex doll. His wife, a woman with basketball-sized breasts and a head full of voluminous, pink hair, looks at him and blabbers, “Zero, it’s time to get off your kadoodles. Life is kicking along and you have nothing to show for it.”
So begins the opening scene of theater professor Al Schnupp’s “Zero to Infinity,” which will debut on Nov. 12 in the Alex and Faye Spanos Theatre. Schnupp’s made-up language and outrageous, clown-like characters show the hoops politicians have to jump through in today’s political circus.
Schnupp began writing this absurdist play about seven years ago when he was “thoroughly appalled and disgusted by politics at that time.” Though the play never mentions names, he said that the circus of events could be considered a spoof on the Bush-Cheney administration.
“[The administration was] just appalling; immoral in my opinion. There were no weapons of mass destruction. Cheney did make a ton of money off of his Halliburton company,” Schnupp said. “I love absurd plays because I think they’re really a reflection of reality. So during the Iraq surge when Condoleezza Rice was asked, ‘Oh, is this troop increase an augmentation?’ and she said, ‘No.’ Then they said, ‘Well what is it?’ Well she said, ‘It’s an allocation.’ To me, that’s absurd.”
Though the play does have an underlying satirical message, the overall atmosphere is more lighthearted, silly and colorful.
The 14 short, fast-paced scenes that make up the production show the political campaign of husband and wife, Zero and Maxie’s outrageous campaign to help Zero become president of a country called Grode.
Psychology and theater senior Ashleigh Droz, who plays Maxie, was drawn to the character because of her over-the-top, emotional personality.
“I really liked her part and her role with the other characters,” Droz said. “She’s smart. She’s ambitious. She really wants power and money and luxury.”
Maxie convinces Zero to illegally obtain funds to finance his campaign, which is followed closely by Inspector Oodles, who tries to figure out how Zero came up with the money.
Throughout the play, Inspector Oodles uses several different disguises to investigate Zero’s campaign, including a Swiss yodeler, a French sculptor and an Italian chauffeur. Theater sophomore Ryan Austin, who plays Inspector Oodles, uses eight different accents throughout the play to match each one of Inspector Oodles’s disguises.
“He is a very motivated investigator. He will pretty much try anything to get what he needs, although he may not be the best at it,” Austin said.
The political game that Zero plays to win over the people of Grode resonates closely to the way presidential candidates in the United States campaign.
“There are so many landmines that politicians have to walk through to even be considered seriously, and I find that absurd and sad,” Schnupp said.
One of the events Zero must walk through is an interview with the media. Two life-sized puppets with skeleton faces, named Paul and Appalling, interview Zero about his quest to become president. The irony in the interview is that Paul and Appalling never seem to ask Zero any questions, but rather ask and answer the questions themselves, spotlighting their image instead of Zero’s.
Other examples of the tightrope Zero must walk to be considered for president include his makeover at Shimmer Clinic and his choice of a weak-minded running mate who can only speak in questions.
Another absurd characteristic of the play is the unique language in which it’s written. With words like “struncation,” “kadoodles” and “boinker,” the play’s silly dialogue harmonizes with the colorful, circus theme of the play. Though the language is made up, Austin said that it is easy to understand in context.
Schnupp is looking forward to putting on the production, hoping that the students will have a good time but also realize the political satire sprinkled throughout the play.
“I hope they laugh a lot and see it as a comedy,” he said. “I hope they see things I’m poking fun at and say, ‘Touché,’ or ‘You’re right’ or ‘Yeah, that’s a Saturday Night Live take on this aspect of politics.’”
“Zero to Infinity” will begin at 8 p.m. on Thursday and will run until Saturday. Tickets are $15.