Robert Caisley, head of dramatic writing and theater professor at the University of Idaho, boarded an airplane bound for rainy Santa Rosa, Calif., on the morning of Friday, Feb. 7 to see his play, “Date Night,” performed at the 6th Street Playhouse. He said, like every person that’s ever written or directed a play, he felt anxious that the show would not meet his expectations — but it did.
eric chazankin | courtesy
Actor Rose Roberts plas as Phoebe and Braedyn Youngberg as Mark in “Hungry 4 U” part of the “Date Night” trilogy, three plays written by UI theater professor Robert Caisley.
The evening of plays is called “Date Night” and consists of three romantic comedies written by Caisley: “The Apology,” “Hungry 4 U” and “Kissing.” “Date Night” was chosen for the weeks of Jan. 24-Feb. 16 to coincide with the romanticism of Valentine’s Day.
“The Apology” is an extended, comedic monologue about a man apologizing for the worst date one could ever imagine and how he tries to make things right. What starts as a simple apology turns into a dark comedy as the tragedy of their date is revealed. The 10-minute play has been produced only one other time as an opener for a main event at the Idaho Repertory Theatre.
Caisley said in that production of “The Apology,” the play was done very simply but at “Date Night,” it was done elaborately with more physical activity — which was surprising.
“It’s always nice to be surprised by your own play,” Caisley said.
“Hungry 4 U” is a 40-minute play about two newlyweds that nearly devour each other on their honeymoon because they love each other so much. Caisley said he had only seen the play produced very minimally as a student production and he wasn’t able to gage the dramatic potential of the play until seeing it at “Date Night.”
“Last night, I saw it with all the audience reactions and the stage blood which was essential to the piece,” Caisley said. “They used a lot of stage-blood and props.”
“Kissing” was the last play in the collection. This 90-minute romantic comedy explores the idea of what happens when words can’t express the amount of love two people have.
Caisley said inspiration for writing plays can come from many different ideas. Sometimes four or five will come to mind and he will use the inspiration from all the ideas to write one play. For “The Apology,” Caisley had a specific mental image.
“I had an image of a guy apologizing to a woman, holding a bunch of flowers in a hospital room,” Caisley said.
“Happy,” a play recently produced by Caisley, was just named one of the “Top 9 Comedies in Chicago Theatre.” Caisley said he was surprised when he was sent a link by a member of the cast, and that he wasn’t even aware Chicago Magazine did that kind of coverage.
“It’s just really nice to get good press like that before the show opens,” Caisley said. “Hopefully, it generates ticket sales and reviews for the play.”
Alexia Neal can be reached at [email protected]