Humor Exposed in Steve Martin's 'The Underpants'

Society?s obsession with conformity, fame, gender roles and sex takes a comic turn with double entendres and masterful banter in ?The Underpants,? a play adapted by comedian Steve Martin and presented in a staged reading by PowPAC on Sunday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m.

The farce, written in 1910 by Carl Sternheim, opens with Theo Maske, an egotistical, puritanical bureaucrat, who berates his wife, Louise, for allowing her underpants to fall to the ground at a parade for the king. Theo fears the potential scandal will ruin him financially, socially and politically, and becomes distracted. Meanwhile, his household is invaded by a series of potential boarders who, having observed the parade, come to seduce his wife.

?Steve Martin's fans will find ?The Underpants? to be both hilarious and dynamically interesting,? said Director Mark Zweifach, ?and audiences will appreciate the off-the-wall humor, the witty dialogue and the inventiveness of the plot.?