Ultra Popcorn Theatre Company presents two one act plays by Steve Martin: WASP and The Zig Zag Woman. Directed by Gayle Rej and Barb Hays and performed at 7 Stages Black Box Theatre in Little Five Points, these plays present a hilariously dark look at American familial and romantic relationships.

“In the beginning of something, its ending is foretold.”

Pushed to amazing lengths to relive profound loneliness, the waitress in The Zig Zag Woman magically separates herself into three parts to facilitate her quest for a man. She encounters an old man waiting for his true love, a middle aged man who has stopped looking, and a fiery young man who longs for a woman in pieces.

“Let me just say that no matter what in life you choose to do, I will be there to shame you.”

In the fractured landscape of 50s suburbia, WASP’s prototypical, but perverse nuclear family exists in a dark limbo of expectation and routine. Mom is surrounded by people but deeply alone, Dad speaks in delicious platitudes, and the children question everything. The play vibrates with satire and dark lyrical irony as the family meanders blindly toward catastrophe.

Steve Martin has been renowned for 50 years as a comedian, actor, musician, writer, and playwright. Martin began publishing plays in the late 1990s and seen within the context of his standing in the arts community and box office bankability at the time, the plays are an interesting examination of the identity politics of the 90s and the author’s own contribution to the cultural landscape.

The two one act plays share a talented cast portraying multiple roles: Christina Leidel (2017 Suzi Bass Award winner), Michael A. Cook, Jared Nipper, Elizabeth Hammontree, Melanie Parker, and Michael Malone. The production will present a musical segue between the two plays featuring Allison Maier and Ashley Burton.