VGCC Students Present Comedy
Vance-Granville Community College drama students will stage Larry Shue’s comedy, The Nerd, Thursday, March 26 through Sunday, March 29. From March 26-28, each night’s performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the small auditorium in Building 2 on the college’s main campus in Henderson . The performance on March 29 will begin at 2 p.m. in the same location.
According to VGCC Theatre Arts/Speech instructor Betsy Henderson, the two-act play “is a fun comedy with a little bit for everyone.” First performed in 1981 before running for more than a year on Broadway, The Nerd centers on Willum Cubbert, an aspiring young architect, and Rick Steadman, who saved Willum’s life after he was seriously wounded in Vietnam. Willum has never met Rick, but he has written to Rick to say that, as long as he is alive, “you will have somebody on Earth who will do anything for you.” Willum is delighted when Rick shows up unexpectedly at his apartment on the night of his 34th birthday party. His delight soon fades as it becomes apparent that Rick is a hopeless “nerd”– a bumbling oaf with no social sense, little intelligence and less tact. Rick stays on and on, his continued presence among Willum and his friends leading to one uproarious incident after another.
The cast includes students Isaac Garner of Wake Forest as Willum Cubbert, Cassandra Nida of Littleton as Tansy McGinnis, Joseph Garner of Wake Forest as Axel Hammond, Patrick Nethercutt of Oxford as Warnock Waldgrave, Amy Hann of Oxford as Clelia Waldgrave, Christopher Johnson of Henderson as Thor Waldgrave and Shawn Rhodes of Butner as Rick Steadman.
The stage manager is student Zeb McGill of Oxford. Betsy Henderson, VGCC’s Theatre Arts/Speech instructor, directs the play.
Admission is $10 for the general public, and $5 for senior citizens, as well as VGCC students, faculty and staff. Tickets may be purchased at the door.
For more information, call Betsy Henderson at (252) 738-3371.
Above: VGCC students rehearse a scene from the play The Nerd, which they will perform March 26-29. Here, from left, Rick Steadman, the “nerd” of the title (played by VGCC student Shawn Rhodes of Butner), annoys architect Willum Cubbert (played by student Isaac Garner of Wake Forest). (VGCC photo)
