What do you do all day? Sound familiar? If you’ve ever worked in a corporate office with a raging, RBF-boss whose attitude can be felt permeating walls from miles away, it might be a little too familiar. Add in the antics of a smelly, obnoxious co-worker, and the fantasy scenario we all daydream about but have no idea what to do with once it becomes a reality and you’ve got the American premiere of Working For Crumbs, a farce written by Kate Danley. Directed by Alanna Kiewe and now appearing on The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre stage, as the first show of 2025 and the third in their 62nd season, Working For Crumbs will have you laughing, at times a little too hard, from start to finish as the concepts of 9 To 5, Weekend At Bernie’s, and the generalized notion of British farce come clashing together in this tightly-paced and well-delivered comedy.
If you can take some of Kate Danley’s script inconsistencies aside and relegate them to the realm of extreme “suspension of disbelief” then you’re in for a delectable treat. If you’re somewhat of a literalist, even in high-farce atmospheres, some of Danley’s constructs and conceptual knowledge in some of these scenes might keep you from enjoying the bizarre nonsense as it unfolds because your brain will be hung up on factual semantics. (A body freshly deceased, even in an overly warm office is not going to reek of day-old death after just a couple hours, especially through a closed office door. And a body freshly deceased after just minutes of bleeding out is also not going to reek of that same day-old death stench…but as this becomes a running call-back gag about why the office smells so bad…you’re just going to have to buy into this inconsistent inaccuracy if you want to enjoy the comedic antics.) Danley also throws off the expected symmetry of three-and-three— three scenes in act one, three scenes in act two— with a balanced first act and a clunky second act, though without having script in hand, it’s unclear whether the two-to-three extra scenes in the second act are actually extra scenes or just being split apart and directed that way. Otherwise, Danley’s writing is sharp and quite potent, particularly in the “packs in the humor” department. Danley also crafts these absurdly over-the-top characters so that anyone who’s ever worked in a toxic work environment and/or hated their boss can relate.
There’re only one or two questionable components to the production as a whole, beyond the “are you willing to suspend your disbelief that far” when it comes to time-of-death versus stench-of-decay, and those two elements fall evenly between Lighting Designer Jaeden Arrington and Director Alanna Kiewe. There is a ‘montage’ style scene change that happens in-between the second and third scene of the first act, which appears to be attempting to inform the audience of the ‘passage of time.’ Arrington has the lights— in a strange array of blue and green as well as white— flickering, likely as fast as they can be programmed to flicker, but they end up flickering in the house as well, which just looks odd. One can imagine it’s meant to imply the “passage of the day” but the actors flitting about on the stage are doing so almost in normal time and you can hear/understand the little quips and exchanges, so the lighting effect just looks awkward. This moment of questionable lighting design and execution shouldn’t detract from the rest of Arrington’s work, which is quite impressive, particularly when it comes to the silhouette-shadow play of what’s happening in the boss’ office. Arrington understands how to backlight a scrim for excellent shadow-play and the effect is hysterical. (The placement of the scrim/back office is as best it can be for the challenging stage space that is Spotlighters, but even that can’t be complained about too harshly because of how impressive the silhouette-work is in those scenes.)
The other questionable factor in play with Working For Crumbs is the way in which Director Alanna Kiewe sets up the parameters and initial pacing for the farce. Kiewe sets those initial two scenes at level-11, over-the-top, high-octane nonsense. With an extreme level of campy caricature raging out of the two office girls from jump-street. Part of successfully navigating a farce on stage is the build from ordinary to absurd. And while the actors are more than up to the challenge of maintaining that astronomical level of energy required to successfully execute all of those physical moments that bring the farce to life, it doesn’t give the audience a chance to experience that build and feels almost like being thrown into a ridiculous cartoon rather than a reality that becomes fantastical. Pacing out that initial scene with more subtly, more grounded delivery from the characters, and an overall calmer sense of existence, then allowing the chaos to build until it explodes would take the production from exceptional to extraordinary. That said, Kiewe does have a firm handle on blocking for all of the radical chaos that does happen, particularly with bodies crumpling into trash-cans and booby-trapped office furnishings. Kiewe and Production Stage Manager Serena Loren run an impressively tight ship so that the two hours’ stage traffic (plus that pesky intermission so that the audience can refresh themselves and the actors can catch their breath) moves swiftly. And those madcap costume changes— particularly for ‘The Dude’ character track— are quite stunning and executed sublimely.
Working For Crumbs’ visual aesthetics are on-point and thoroughly enjoyable as well. You get a really eye-popping set from Scenic Designer Justin Nepomuceno, which lends itself to this hybrid blend of pastel jewel-tones in purple, blue, and teal, almost giving you that fond nostalgia for the mid-late 1990’s (and given how the two protagonists just sit back and swallow the toxic work environment, the show itself almost feels as if it has to be set then because no mouthy GenZ or self-promoting GenAlpha working in an office like that would put up with that behavior for more than an hour, let alone months and years.) Nepomuceno’s set is spatially balanced, clearly showcasing his working knowledge of the theatre-in-the-square space with the staging areas that extend out into the corners of the house. And the booby-traps that spring up, spring apart, and explode late in the production are simply to die for. Topping off the impressive aesthetic is the sartorial selection featured on this larger-than-life caricatures by way of Costume Designer Zoe Nowoslawski. The pungent pink and screaming banana-gold combos are as odious on the Molly character as her supposed patchouli-perfume odor while the lavish furs and eccentric fashions featured on both Viviane and Helen craft the perfect imagery for these entitled ‘Boss-Babe’ personas.
Boss-babe vibes are rolling off the Viviane (Andromeda Bacchus) in waves. Though the character seems to exist solely as a plot device to push the chaos of the farce further up the hill to its zenith, Bacchus takes every chance she gets to let her powerful presence be felt. Bursting into the office with that ‘nobody-can-touch-this’ attitude, you get laugh after laugh from her character’s heightened sense of importance. There’s an explosive effervescence, almost like a controlled science-fair project, designed to show you just how impressive she can be, that erupts from Bacchus every time the Viviane character strut-strolls into the room. And sometimes it isn’t what she says or how she says it, but a simple look that has the audience guffawing at her antics.
Channeling those Apex Predator vibes, Maura McDonald strides into the office like a feral queen of the jungle. Think Miranda Priestly a la Devil Wears Prada meets a Gen-Z offspring of Emma Stone and Glen Close’s Cruella. All of those delicious inspirations inform the ay McDonald moves, speaks, reacts, responds, and exists every step of her character’s journey and it is both saucy, sassy, and invigorating. She wholly embodies the character you love to loathe. Visceral wit slicing from her tongue aligns with all of those angular movements that are somehow simultaneously smooth; giving her this polished appearance of someone to be feared. And the trashcan scene, as it must be referred to so as not to spoil all the fun, is simply to die for. McDonald handles those moments sublimely.
We’ve all got that one co-worker. And when I say that everyone who has ever worked in the office setting knows exactly the one that comes to mind. And in this script that’s Molly (Olivia Libowitz.) You almost want to sympathize for the character because the other two in the office aren’t quite as opening and welcoming as they could be to her, if only she were a little less obnoxious. And in your face. And smelled better. And understood personal space. And wasn’t so annoying. All the time. Get the picture? That’s Libowitz’ Molly to a tee. And while Libowitz flounces in and out of the office in her hideodeous scream-bright business suits (again, praises to the almighty costume designer Zoe Nowoslawski), completely oblivious to what an inter-office-irritant she is, the two cohorts inside the main office are reacting and responding to Molly in such a way that you feel like you’re living a 4D experience. One of the character’s running gags is that she reeks from an overly-potent unpleasant, patchouli-based perfume. And whenever she appears, Amy and Grace have such violent and visceral reactions, the audience gets tricked into thinking they can smell her too. It’s wild!
The aforementioned Amy (Dominique Solomon) and Grace (Kathryn Russo) are the show’s ringleaders if Working For Crumbs was a stage circus. And for all intents and purposes, this farce is exactly that. With Solomon and Russo serving as two halves of the same proverbial overworked, under-respected, deeply abused, and at-the-end-of-their-collective-office-ropes office workers, it’s a real treat to see them feed off of one another, sharing that heightened sense of chaos every step of the journey. Although the play is jumpstarted with this jolt of level-11 farce, these two actors never falter in their delivery. And their antics are madcap bordering on maniacal; it’s absolutely hysterical and thoroughly enjoyable. With Russo being the more spastically-inclined ball of rattling nerves and Solomon trying to be somewhat more level-headed as catastrophe after catastrophe unfolds, the pair of them really draw you into the nonsense, shenanigans, and overall tomfoolery of the experience that is Working For Crumbs. Russo in particularly deserves an extra-shout out for all of her extremely engaging physical comedy, particularly when it comes to that trashcan scene with Maura McDonald’s Helen character.
Stealing the show, hands down, no question, is ReginaGinaG (credited also as RGG Summers in the program.) Summers, who plays three separate male characters (making her involvement with this production that much more entertaining), finds a unique way of making them all completely separate. We meet her first as the too-hot-to-handle delivery guy. Strutting into the office with that overly-confident sex appeal and really putting swagger into that character’s step, Summers wows the audience right from her initial appearance. And her AC-Guy character is screaming Steve Urkel, everything from the hiked-up nerdy costume to the stumbling physicality. And her Janitor— oh her Janitor— good grief, you’ll be laughing so hard you’ll cry when it comes to that character. And a lot of what Summers is putting into the Janitor (in addition to the tilted-slope of his shoulder, the pained mincing-shuffle-gait to showcase his ages and his hardships and his overall sense of loathing his back-breaking position) is a simple look or gesture. Summers is extraordinary on stage, particularly when being manhandled by the Amy and Grace characters, being flipped, spun, swung, and winged all around the office; her body just lets loose into these moments and the outcome is phenomenal physical comedy.
If you need a good chuckle or have ever contemplated getting rid of your boss in a more permanent fashion, Working For Crumbs is the perfect play for you. Be sure to catch it before it closes on February 2nd! Toot-toot!
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes with one intermission
Writing For Crumbs plays through February 2nd 2025 at The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre— 817 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore MD. For tickets call the box office at (410) 752-1225 or purchase them online.
