By Gore Vidal
Directed by Mark Squirek
October 17 - November 8

As the current presidential campaign nears the finish line, the Mobtown Players have turned a spotlight on backroom politics, deal-making, and dirty tricks. The company’s 2008-09 season opens this month with Gore Vidal's The Best Man, a behind-the-scenes look at presidential politics in a time when the party conventions meant everything. Depicting a battle between two men for not only the future of America , but also their own souls, the play poses questions that move from the largest stage in America into each man’s innermost core. 

Directed by Mobtown veteran Mark Squirek, the show stars Michael Butscher as Ivy League liberal William Russell and Todd Krickler as his political opponent and moral opposite, Joe Cantwell. Butscher last appeared as Tiny Tim in Mobtown’s production of Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge, which was also directed by Squirek. Krickler, a veteran of many local productions, was last seen in Steve Yeager's production of Hatful of Rain at Vagabonds. Between the two characters Vidal covers the entire range of political thought in America, liberal to conservative, Main Street to Wall Street. It's like finding Keith Olbermann and Bill O’Reilly in a caged death match with only a thesaurus as a weapon.

The play was first written in 1961 and set at the convention of an unnamed political party. In 1977, Vidal updated his script to include references to Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon and many other real-life politicians of the time. Looking to challenge themselves and the audience, Mobtown elected to use the rarely-performed 1977 script. In the update, Vidal captures the election process just as it is changing - the conventions are losing significance as the primary process is becoming more important. Although today's nomination process bears little resemblance to Vidal's depiction, the dialogue is as sharp and quick as when it was first presented in 1961. While the process may have changed, human behavior - for better or worse - remains the same.

Resources

IBDB - Internet Broadway Database page for productions of The Best Man The Best Man (1964 film) - Wikipedia article on the film Gore Vidal - Wikipedia article on the playwright Salon - an interview with Gore Vidal, in which you learn what he really feels about modern politics The Independent - another interview The Guardian - a long piece interwoven with interview