"The Why Overhead" September 6, 2012

WHERE AND WHEN:
September 6 to 23 (previews Sept. 6-8; opens Sept. 9)
Access Theater, 380 Broadway (at White St.), 4th Fl.
Presented by Zootopia Theatre Company, (www.zootopiatheatre.org)
Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8:00 PM; Sundays at 2:00 PM
Tickets $15 in advance, $18 at the door.
Box office: Brown Paper Tickets, 800-838-3006, www.brownpapertickets.com.
Running time: 90 minutes. Critics are invited on or after September 6.

Adam Szymkowicz (www.adamszymkowicz.com) has been carving a niche for himself among our best young crop of comedy writers with "fabulously weird and weirdly fabulous" plays, (NY Times) describing love affairs of many kinds with an admirable simplicity. His latest work, "The Why Overhead," will have its premiere run September 6 to 23, presented by Zootopia Theatre Company (www.zootopiatheatre.org) at Access Theater, 380 Broadway. The piece imagines what happens in the office while the boss is away. Matthew J. Nichols directs a cast of 12, which includes Susan Louise O'Connor, a Theatre World Award winner for "Blythe Spirit" on Broadway.

While the boss is away, the workers will play. At a call center, all the employees are desperate to connect with each other, seek greater meaning in their lives and take their desires to extremes. The results are shocking and funny. Sam is in love with Violet, a customer who called once with a warranty question, and he smashes all barriers to rendezvous with her. Alan and Sid are blinded in their rivalry for Jessica; together, they build a decorative glass window over her cubicle to worship her under. Annie (Susan Louise O’Connor) and Nigel have a hate-hate relationship and plot each other's demise. Karen, the department head, plays hookey, hiding at home and making plans with her talking dog to abandon the working world for the hobo's life. Donald, the office manager, is home too, plotting revenge for being canned. By the end of the day, the business is in tatters and everyone is frantic for the CEO to sweep in and make everything right, because that's what CEO's do, right?