Monroe Community Players' 'God of Carnage' illustrates the power of words

An edgy, dark comedy featuring a new actor is up next for the Monroe Community Players.

The local community theater group will present “God of Carnage” at 7 p.m. April 14 and 15 and at 2 p.m. April 16 in the Players’ space at the Mall of Monroe, 2121 N. Monroe St.

Doors will open a half-hour before each show. Attendees should enter the mall through the door by the old Carson Home Store. Tickets are on sale now for $15 each. For tickets, visit www.monroecommunityplayers.org or call 734-241-7900.

“God of Carnage” features two sets of parents. The son of one of the couples hurt the son of the other couple at a public park. The parents meet to discuss the matter in a civilized manner. However, as the evening goes on, the parents become increasingly childish, and the meeting becomes chaotic, Players said.

“The action takes place in one room and is continuous, with no breaks. The audience observes the verbal sparing of the two couples, and their exchange gets very heated as the evening goes on,” David Wahr of the Players said.

“The characters each let their inner child speak out, but not in a good way,” added show co-director Carol Sliwka. “My hope is that, after seeing this play, people will think more carefully about how they treat and speak to others. The show points out the difficulties of interpersonal relations and is thought-provoking.”

This is the Players’ first time staging “God of Carnage.”

“It’s been a while since we’ve done a show this ‘edgy,’" Wahr said. “It’s an adult play for sure because of themes and language. It’s edgy because it is a style of play we don’t do often. I would compare it to ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ by Edward Albee, which we did some time ago.”

“God of Carnage” runs less than two hours. There is no intermission.

“It’s not very long, but it is very deep,” Wahr said.

The cast of four consists of Brian Burchette-Ross as Alan Raleigh, Beth Duey as Annette Raleigh, Ron Roberts as Michael Novak and Ashley Powers as Veronica Novak.

Duey is making her MCP debut.

Kathleen McBee, the show’s co-director and stage manger, was last seen on stage in MCP’s recent production of “A Bench in the Sun.”

The cast endured winter-related obstacles to rehearse this show.

“I have great respect and admiration for the actors in this show. Between power outages and illness, we’ve had challenge after challenge, and they are still nailing it,” Sliwka said.

“God of Carnage” was written in French by Yasmina Reza. It was translated into English by Christopher Hampton and won the Tony Award for Best Comedy and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy in 2009.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Monroe Community Players' 'God of Carnage' illustrates power of words