I had done a not even staged public reading of an early version of this play and the author, Claudia Reilly, whom I regard as the single funniest woman on the planet, liked what I did with it. She got me an audition with Tom Bullard, who, I understand wanted a "young Tom Hanks" for the part, and for whatever reason, I found myself commuting between Louisville and Cleveland (via Pittsburgh) for rehearsals and performances. I was still dramaturging at good old CPH; we were frantically shooting episodes of Hickory Hideout that spring in the new national format; W-KYC called me one night and asked if I could host AM Cleveland the next day, which I did; and it was, to say the least a hectic schedule.

Debra Monk is a delightful, warm. solid actress. One of the disadvantages of staying in the hinterlands to raise a family and have a life is that you miss out on many of the true professionals who work away in NYC. But I digress.

The play is extraordinarily funny, perhaps the single funniest new play I have ever done, but we had the unfortunate luck to open this play called Astronauts a matter of days after the Shuttle disaster. Audiences in Louisville howled with delight. I think this was a welcome antidote to what the locals called the "doom and gloom" plays that were the more or less standard fare at ATL. But it never caught on. A year or two after we did this show, I called Claudia's agent from my office at CPH to check on the rights--I wanted Will to stage it. While the set was expensive to build, the overall production costs would not have been excessive--and I asked him why he thought the play hadn't had a revival. I though he would tell me that the title turned people off. After all, who would want to see a comedy called Astronauts so soon after the terrible tragedy in Florida. But he said something that I still can't quite process. He said, "It's too funny. People don't trust it." Whatever that means.

I understand that Claudia has prospered, though I have lost touch with her. She had offers almost instantly from Norman Lear types, and so the Fabulous Invalid lost yet another voice to the little box.

EXCERPTS FROM REVIEWS:

LOUISVILLE COURIER-JOURNAL 'Astronauts' by William Mootz

Francis Xavier Hoffman, the addled hero of Claudia Reilly's "Astronauts," last night's fourth entry in Actors Theatre of Louisville's current Humana Festival of New American Plays, has problems.

Big problems. Not only is Francis half Jewish and half Catholic by heritage, a circumstance that brings on occasional attacks of ethnic confusion, but he is also a music teacher with a sacred calling.

Francis teaches music at Our Lady of Queen of Martyrs, a Catholic institution toat harbors emotionally disturbed children. At the same time, he fancies himself about to be called to the priesthood.

It's a fancy Francis has harbored for over a decade, as a matter of fact. While trying to make up his mind whether or not to accept God's call, he has been having a love affair with a fireman named Peter, indulging a close friendship with a mousy fellow faculty member named Bernice, and lying to the world at large about his close relationships with superstars like Jule Andrews, Barbra Streisand, and Frank Sinatra.

There ate no astronauts in "Astronauts." But there is a merry pile-up of amusing situations that often send Reilly's play into dizzying orbit. She is one of the most promising talents yet discovered during ATL's ten-year quest for new American dramatists. One suspects a productive career lies ahead...

..."Astronauts" is...a charming play. It pokes riducule at a lot of sacred cows, but it attacks such targets--religion, psychiatry, sexual obsession--with disarming good humor.

As deftly directed by Tom Bullard, "Astronauts" is getting a lively premiere. Wayne S. Turney plays Francis with a likable mixture of fey irresponsibility and tender concern. Debra Monk's Bernice is believably naive. John Shepard invests a rock star super jock with considerable charm. Peggity Price moves securely from wild-eyed neuroticism to seren self-confidence as the woman who loves him, and Louise Freistadt is sullen and menacing as a disturbed teenager who, unlike the rest of Reilly's characters, knows exactly who she is....

THE LOUISVILLE TIMES ATL's 'Astronauts' is funny despite it's length and unevenness by Dudley Saunders

Playwright Claudia Reilly's affection for broad comedy and whimsy is evident in her "Astronauts" which made its debut last night in Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival of New American Plays.

Her play is filled with comic set-ups, situations and twists that go way back in comedy history, but which can still inspire laughter. No doubt about it, she has an antic sense of humor.

One can almost sense her deligyht in the wacky situations \she thrusts on her characters. The audience gave them a warm response....

Her screwball cast lives in a screwball world. Two of them teach in a Catholic School for the emotionally disturbed and, with a little push, could end up as inmates. Another is a paranoid-schizophrenic who appears ready to commit murder and insists she is an aeronautical genius..

There is also a narcissistic rock singer and his flaky lover who has swiped his most cherished possessions, including his nude baby pictures. Last of all, there is an incontinent, virtually catatonic dog named Zsa Zsa....

Most of these people haven't touched earth in years, which makes them metaphorical astronauts. Francis, a Catholic Jew, teaches music, failed to get passing marks in his only homosexual experience and is afraid of failing as a heterosexual.

Francis is also failing to live up to his promise to get a superstar for the school's forthcoming benefit.

Bernice, the 30ish tyhping teacher, has adored him for 10 years, but can't even get up nerve to pat him on the back. Bernice flees into Francis' apartment pursued by Mary "Red" Dern, the paranoid-schizophrenic who chops through the door with a butcher knife...

Wayne S. Turney as Francis, Debra Monk as Bernice, Peggity Price as JoDean and John Shepard as the rock singer give energetic performances. We kept hoping to see more of Louise Freistadt's "Red" Dern.