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Ultra Popcorn Theatre presents "TV" from America Hurrah a play by Jean Claude Van Itallie. Directed by Barb Hays and Gayle Rej.

Originally performed November 1966, America Hurrah, a play in 3 acts that included Interview, TV and Motel jolted New York theater audiences with its nonlinear exploration of social alienation. High praise from mainstream critics — “An off-Broadway trip through an air-conditioned blightmare towards an icy emptiness at the core of American life,”   TV suggests mass media defines and ultimately trivialize the lives of the individuals within that society. The situation comedies and Westerns on the television, which parallel the romantic triangle in the office, promise easy solutions to the raters’ problems and entanglements. As the television offers them images of glamorous people and products, however, it also suggests the true nature of the society in which they live. Interspersed with the promises implicit in the programs and commercials are bulletins about American involvement in Vietnam and the inhuman destruction of civilians. In the end, Hal, Susan, and George retreat from the complexities of the real world into the harmless world of situation comedy, allowing their own realities to be set to a laugh track.

Ultra Popcorn revisits TV on it's 50th anniversary, for another look into the power of the idiot box. Starring Michael A Cook, Hannah Hays and Andrew Scott. With Trish Chenard, Mandy Corbett, Allison Maier, Micheal Malone and Melanie Parker. 

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