Political comedy offers bit of well-earned relief

LAKE CITY PLAYHOUSE’S fall schedule surprised and delighted Bob Casemore as he read it in the newspaper.

The play he’d written, “Back to the Blanket,” was scheduled for a performance at Coeur d’Alene’s Brix restaurant today. He didn’t remember hearing that the Playhouse planned to produce his play. But he had no complaints. He was curious, however, about the timing of the production of his political comedy.

“I don’t know why they’re doing it the day after the election,” he says, puzzled.

The Playhouse told Bob months ago that its selection committee had chosen “Back to the Blanket” for one of its monthly reader theaters, says Todd Jasmine, the theater’s technical director.

“He forgot,” Todd says, chuckling. “Since this is a political comedy and we do one a month, November seemed like the time to do this one.”

Readers’ theater is an abbreviated production without sets. People in the cast read lines directly from scripts held in their hands. The Playhouse offers one a month somewhere in Coeur d’Alene to raise the theater’s profile with the public.

“Back to the Blanket” is a soap opera/comedy. Its only ties to politics are its main characters, a naughty Democratic senator and a more upstanding Republican congressman. The congressman, with his part-Navajo ancestry, possesses information the senator needs for a book he’s writing. The congressman offers to share his information for the senator’s support on a bill. Wives, mistresses and true love complicate everything, as is often the case in politics.

The Playhouse is offering a free read-through of the play in Brix’s downstairs club at 7 tonight. Brix’s basement is usually a performance space for musicians. But Playhouse managing director Noel Barbuto is also a bartender at Brix and persuaded the restaurant to try a readers’ theater downstairs.

“There’s alcohol available, and that’ll be good the day after the election,” Todd says.

Bob wrote the play in 1993, extending the writing career he began after he left the U.S. Army after 23 years of service. Bob served in the 148th Field Artillery, an Idaho battalion, during World War II. He fought the Japanese in Darwin, Australia, in 1942 before Gen. Douglas MacArthur arrived on the scene. A frame on his office wall in the Coeur d’Alene apartment he shares with his wife, Rosemarie, is filled with his ribbons and commendations.

For years he wrote training films for industry and the U.S. Department of Defense. He co-wrote two how-to books – “How to Sell Yourself” and “Mastering Your Way to the Top.”

Plays offered him relaxation, so Bob acted and directed around his home in Michigan. He even wrote several one-act plays. In 1993, he decided he wanted to write a script about politics.

“I always start with, ‘What if?’ ” he says. “What would happen if a congressman of one party falls in love with the mistress of a senator in the other party?”

He might have found the answer in historical record, but Bob decided to make up his own.

“Ideas just pop up,” he says.

“Back to the Blanket” hit stages in Michigan and New Mexico. Audiences laughed. Bob was inspired to continue writing. He wrote two more plays, then veered into fiction books, dabbling in Westerns and history. His latest venture is a series about an infantry squad in World War II, the Ghost Squad, that takes on daring rescues and harrowing missions.

Books in Motion in Spokane publishes Bob’s Ghost Squad series as recorded books.

“I’m still hoping I’ll become a big name,” he says, grinning.

Bob plans to watch “Back to the Blanket” at Brix tonight. He can’t imagine a readers’ theater version of his play, with performers sitting behind music stands and reading from scripts. And that’s not what he’ll see. The five performers in the play will read, but they’ll also move as the script suggests.

“It’s almost a full production,” Todd says. “It takes place entirely on a patio. We sort of insinuate that.”

Performing a political comedy the day following a national election is the Playhouse’s recipe for relief. Campaign season was grueling, annoying, distracting and, at times, disgusting. It’s time for people to laugh at politicians and the political process, Todd says.

“Have a glass of wine and laugh at politics,” he says. “It’s free. We just want to get our name out to the community. Come watch.”

It’ll make Bob’s day.