I actually know how the sausage gets made. (The aphorism as analogized to lawmaking is wittily referenced in Faction of Fools’ wildly inventive new satire, about which more later.) I once worked several summers in a sausage factory, and I saw it all — from carcasses by the barrelful to seasoned pulped flesh pumped into animal-intestine casings. For years afterward, I had nightmares of falling into a meat grinder.
But that title-triggered memory is not what I’m here to review.
Faction of Fools, DC’s indispensable Commedia dell’Arte theater, is now in its 16th season of making provocative and fun foolery. Wearing masks that cover half their faces (à la the Renaissance-era art form), the actors compensate with an energetic and expressive style of physicality that is a delight to behold. If you’ve never seen a Faction of Fools show, you can’t imagine what you’ve been missing.
Two years ago, an eight-member ensemble within the company began devising a new work based on a simple idea: a political comedy on Capitol Hill. What their nimble imaginations and mad performing chops have come up with — a Commedia-inflected lampoon of the legislative process called How the Sausage Gets Made (now playing at the Capital Hill Arts Workshop through August 9) — is a DC-specific fusion of salience and silliness with guffaws galore.
When you arrive in the small CHAW black box, you first see scenic designer Johnny Weissgerber’s fantastic set: ceiling-high Ionic columns topple like dominoes into the distance as the pediment they held up seems about to come crashing down. It’s as eloquent an emblem of our faltering government as ever there was.
A troupe of six players writhes in an indistinct mound, dressed uniformly in gray overalls. They gradually differentiate and reveal themselves, and for a time, we see the actors’ whole faces. I liked this period of personalization before they all donned masks (designed by Tara Cariaso) and only their lower jaws remained visible.
Two interrelated story lines take off. In one, a newbie Congressman, Nathan Newbright (played with earnest naivety by Kathryn Zoerb), arrives on the Hill believing he can quickly get a bill passed that would establish free public libraries — a no-brainer, one would think. But obstacles begin to pile up, including blowback from a Chorus of Media and legislators’ ever-deployable delay tactics, like a go-nowhere pilot project. (A dramaturg and political consultant pseudonymously named “Pryor Moral” has lent the loony proceedings a modicum of factual foundation.) Amid the cartoonery and clowning that the Fools are so adept at are giggles worth of sight gags, nifty one-liners (the books to be in the library would be “like podcasts for your eyes”), and spirited song-and-dance bits (music composition by Jesse Terrill). Sample lyric (sung to Nathan Newbright):
“CITIZENS UNITED VERSUS FEC”
GAVE US ALL A BRAND NEW CLUE-OO:
YOU THINK YOURSELF A PERSON
BUT CORPORATIONS ARE PEOPLE TOO!
IN FACT, YOUNG MAN,
THEY’RE MORE PEOPLE THAN YOU!
The other main story arc is a clever transposition of political partisanship into a divide between meat eaters and vegans. To give you some idea of the show-stealing potential here, there’s a hilarious scene featuring the cast manipulating puppets made of slabs of meat. Everyone in the cast of crazily named characters not only co-wrote the script but is a standout in comic contortions, sharp timing, and silly walks (Rebecca Ballinger as Nataliya Marie and Dottie Butts, Robert Pike as Bruiser Uppercut, Andrew Quilpa as Tanthony Bank and Burt “Big Books,” Jesse Terrill as Atticus Brief, and Arika Thames as Frances Kina). Director Francesca Chilcote has honed their performance into a masterful mix of actor antics and tight cuing (sound design by Kenny Neal, light design William K. D’Eugenio, with a shoutout to Samantha Nodarse Owen, who, as stage manager, called the show). The array of circusy-suit costumes by Cidney Forkpah was superfun to watch (the ostentatious neck ties, in particular). The show’s amusing sendup of politicos begins in the dressing room.
There’s something to relish about seeing this spoof of DC politics, right here in DC, right now when there’s so much unfunny. Although How the Sausage Gets Made feels a bit longer than it needs to be, the show’s superb Comedia makes it perfect for theater buffs, and its parody of lawmaking makes it perfect for anyone in government or adjacent to it (which is all of us).
As sausage-making goes, the show’s a real wiener.
Running Time: Approximately two hours and 10 minutes, including one 10-minute intermission.
How the Sausage Gets Made plays through August 9, 2024, presented by Faction of Fools Theatre Company performing in the black box theater inside the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop at 545 7th Street SE, Washington, DC. Tickets are on a sliding scale ($27, market rate; $37, “pay it forward”; $17, lower income/child) and can be purchased at the door and online.
The program for How the Sausage Gets Made is online here.
Family friendly but contains some PG-13 humor.
COVID Safety: Medical-mask-required performances are scheduled for Saturday, July 26, at 2 pm; Saturday, August 2, at 2 pm; and Saturday, August 9, at 2 pm. Masks will be available at the box office. For all other performances, masks are not required.
How the Sausage Gets Made
Written by the Devising Ensemble of Faction of Fools (Rebecca Ballinger, Francesca Chilcote, Natalie Cutcher, Robert Pike, Andrew Quilpa, Jesse Terrill, Arika Thames, and Kathryn Zoerb)
Directed by Francesca Chilcote
CAST
Rebecca Ballinger: Nataliya Marie & Dottie Butts
Robert Pike: Bruiser Uppercut
Andrew Quilpa: Tanthony Bank & Burt “Big Books”
Jesse Terrill: Atticus Brief
Arika Thames: Frances Kina
Kathryn Zoerb: Nathan Newbright
Understudies: Isabelle Jennings, Caitlin Frazier, and Danny Puente Cackley
Stage Manager: Samantha Nodarse Owen
Associate Director: Natalie Cutcher
Production Manager: Cris Ruthenberg-Marshall
Scenic Design: Johnny Weissgerber
Lighting Design: William K. D’Eugenio
Costume Design: Cidney Forkpah
Mask Design: Tara Cariaso of Waxing Moon Masks
Sound Design: Kenny Neal
Dramaturg and Political Consultant: “Pryor Moral”
Music Composition: Jesse Terrill
Props Design: Katherine Offutt Ross
Master Electrician: Patrick Kleespies
Music Director & Physicality Coach: Kathryn Zoerb
Associate Production Managers: Lilli Hokama & Robert Pike
Production Photography: DJ Corey Photography
Graphic Design: Ben Lauer