Watching “The Why Overhead,” it’s hard not to imagine its playwright in some actual, dead-end office job, taking notes about his co-workers with the hope of one day putting it all onstage.
What must have made for tedium-relieving daydreaming has resulted in an absurdist comedy that strains for wackiness.
In Adam Szymkowicz’s play, the employees at an unnamed, customer call-in center are left for a day without supervision. Chaos ensues.
Annie (Susan Louise O’Connor) and Nigel (Jeffrey Emerson) engage in an increasingly vicious series of practical jokes. Sam (Rowan Michael Meyer) woos a female customer (Cotton Wright) over the phone. And Alan (Scott Thomas) and Sid (Matthew Murumba) desperately vie for the affections of the beautiful Jessica (Alexandra Hellquist), at one point installing a glass skylight above her cubicle.
“You realize that you’ve just put a glass ceiling over a female co-worker,” she points out.
Meanwhile, their department head, Karen (Heather Hollingsworth), is at home. Fed up with her career, she’s lamenting “that big WHY hanging over my head” and excitedly planning her new life as a hobo, while recently fired Donald (David Bennett), brandishing an automatic weapon, plans his revenge.
The entire play seems composed of elements thrown at the wall to see if they’ll stick, including a talking dog played by Larry Phillips.
Thanks to the sheer onslaught of gags, there are some amusing moments, and director Matthew J. Nichols skillfully handles the Zootopia Theatre’s 12-person cast in his tightly disciplined staging. But by the time “The Why Overhead” is over, it feels like a long day’s work at the office.