10 through 12, Katy Visual and Performing Arts Center (KVPAC), Encore Players, the Award-Winning Community Theatre of KVPAC, will present On the Verge; or The Geography of Yearning, directed by Morgan Midkiff. Show times are February 10 and 11 at 8:00 p.m. and February 12 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $18 for Adults, $15 for Seniors (55+) and Students, and $12 for groups of 10 or more.
On the Verge; or, The Geography of Yearning is a play written by Eric Overmyer, which premiered in 1985. The script makes extensive use of esoteric language and pop culture references from the late nineteenth century to 1955. The cast consist of three Victorian women explorers and eight diverse beings (played by one actor) they encounter on their travels, which include different times as well as different locations.
The play follows the adventures of the explorers into what they believe to be Terra Incognita, a new, unexplored land. The three are from very different exploration backgrounds, but all exhibit their own form of independence. The three together discuss many aspects of their pasts in exploring, with Mary and Fanny frequently trying to outdo each other. As the women progress on their travels it becomes apparent that they are not on an ordinary journey. Mary reaches the conclusion at the end of the first act that the three of them are in fact traveling forward through time and that, while doing so, they are beginning to absorb knowledge from the future. Alex dubs this phenomenon osmosing and from that point forward in the play, the ladies actively, and often fruitlessly try to osmose what the things they are encountering are, e.g. In the scene where Alex first encounters Cool Whip she takes several guesses at the item’s identity: “(Osmoses) ‘Mo hair’. No. ‘Jello mold’. No. (Tastes) Noxzema! Yes! Heaven!”
Director, Morgan Midkiff describes the show as ‘a humorous exploration through different times and the explorers’ view of the new world as the dissolution of manners and language give way to the availability of free time and ready-mades to create a new culture’. Sit back and enjoy seeing how America has changed in a century through the eyes and osmosis of three “intrepid explorers” eager to not only see but experience this this new culture.