I sketched a tech rehearsal for Florida Man. We all know about the Florida Man twitter feed where you can read the insane headlines that make Florida appear like a Looney Toons version of the Wild West. Such headlines include, “Florida man takes a bubble bath in Wendy’s kitchen sink and gets fired,” or “Florida man arrested and charged with assault with a deadly
weapon after throwing alligator
through a fast-food chain’s drive-thru window.”
This Fringe show allowed the audience to pick one of three headlines that would affect the plot of the show. J. Scott Browning directed the cast. Florida Man’s (Adam Murray) abode was simply a small couch with milk crates functioning as side tables and a coffee table. Pizza boxes were littered everywhere. The basic premise of the show was that Florida Man lived with a curse, but he wanted to live a life separate from the headlines.
Florida hick standards abounded, like shopping at Walmart or dealing with an apathetic drive-thru hostess. Of course being a tech rehearsal the show was disjointed with many pauses for blocking. It was clear however that the cast was having fun and the show was light-hearted fun. Two smarmy newscasters (Andy Gion, Trenell Mooring ) would announce the headlines with false saccharine sweet humor. It became clear that Florida Man had more heart than the headlines that defined his existence to the rest of the world. Florida man deserved to find Florida woman (Sharon Yost), and together they might carve out some form of a life beyond comical headlines.
