Padua Franciscan Performing Arts presented Parlor Games, based on the comedy written by James C. Wall, as the Fall Play in 2023. The production ran from Friday, November 3 through Sunday, November 5, 2023.
Practical joker Mort McNulty hosted his own wake, so that he could hear what people will said about him after he’s dead, before he’s dead. Mort’s wife, Tricia, got unwillingly drawn into the action and apologetically tried to convince everyone that Mort was playing another joke. We met a variety of wakegoers—some there on purpose, some not—who eventually, with the right amount of suggestion and imagination, convinced themselves that Mort was dead and Tricia was in denial. The mistaken identities, chases, and jokes within jokes within jokes culminated in Tricia turning Mort’s wake into a surprise party as she tried to teach her husband a lesson about practical jokes.
The production was directed by Miss Elizabeth Malloy ’11.
