“Lie, Cheat & Genuflect” stages Jan. 17 through Feb. 2, and this could be the last comedy at Westfield Playhouse’s current address, 1836 W. State Road 32.
“They are making pretty substantial progress with the new playhouse,” Director Jen Otterman told The Reporter. “It is presumed that ‘Rumors,’ the spring show, will be in the new building.”
“Lie, Cheat & Genuflect” is the story of two brothers who are trying to cheat their way into a portion of their grandfather’s inheritance.
“A grandfather who has passed away has a kingdom that was created by his invention, the belt buckle,” Otterman said, chuckling a bit at the premise. “The two main characters are his grandsons, called the ‘Buckle brothers.’ They are trying to get the inheritance because one of them has gambled quite a bit of money and is in debt to a loan shark.”
The story is about the Buckle brothers trying to figure out how to get this money. One of their schemes involves one of them dressing like a nun. Thus, the title, “Lie, Cheat & Genuflect.”
You can see “Lie, Cheat & Genuflect” starting at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 17. (Reporter photo by Stu Clampitt)
Otterman has faced some challenges in bringing this cast and crew together because her casting and rehearsals spanned Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s breaks.
“I had to deal with a lot of breaks for holidays with this rehearsal schedule,” Otterman said. “We cast the show. We were in for a few days and we broke for Thanksgiving. Then we were back in for a while and we broke for Christmas. It’s very disjointed, which has caused some issues.”
But overcoming challenges is familiar territory for such an experienced director and performer.
“I started way back when I was 17 years old working at the Red Barn Summer theater in Frankfort, which is a semi-professional theater,” Otterman said. “I’ve been doing theater for over 50 years.”
She not only has a Master’s Degree in performance from Northwestern University, but she was a drama and English teacher at Hamilton Southeastern for 30 years. She taught four different levels of acting classes as well as producing and directing two shows each year.
Shortly after retiring from HSE in 2015, Otterman started getting involved in community theater.
She told The Reporter she enjoys theatrical comedy because of the higher level of excellence it demands.
“It is, in my opinion, more difficult that doing drama,” Otterman said. “I say that both as an actor and as a director, you have to have that comedic timing, you have to be able what I call ‘glib down’ the lines. A lot of actors want to play comedy very big, and if it gets too big, it’s not funny. They have to be able to play off each other, get the lines memorized quite early so they can get the timing and tempo. This show is very Carol Burnett-ish. It is sort of a Harvey Korman and Tim Conway kind of comedy.”
The youngest cast member is currently enrolled in Hamilton Southeastern High School.
“She is the daughter of a former student of mine,” said Otterman. “She plays the secretary to the mobster, whose name is Pizzaface. She is the youngest. Everyone else is 28 and older. My husband is in it and he is in his 60s, so it is quite a span of ages.”
Cast and crew members are from Noblesville, Westfield, Fishers, Whitestown and Indianapolis.
You can see “Lie, Cheat & Genuflect” starting Jan. 17 at Westfield Playhouse.