Pastorella: A Play About Unfamous Actors

Stuart Bousel’s Pastorella is an acerbic, witty love/hate letter to small theater and the artists-idealists to egotists (often the same person)-who keep them alive. Gwen is a recent college graduate who has been cast as Chloe in a small theater production of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia. Hanging around backstage, she befriends Warren, who is playing Valentine, and is involved in a stormy romance with Josh, the company’s leading man, who announces a few days before opening that he has a better opportunity with a touring production of a new musical based on the animated film Fern Gully: The Last Rain Forest. Amidst the antics of fellow cast-mates Cliff, Toby, Bettina, Electra, and Roy, Warren and Josh’s relationship implodes, Gwen gets her dream role, and the show, as always, goes on.