Columbia City Paper

By Garrett “Balls” Kellerhals

In times ancient and modern, balls have always been an ultimate source of human entertainment, education and overall enjoyment. People seem to find great pleasure in any activity involving the packing or grasping of balls. We measure the seasons by balls: baseballs in spring, beach balls in summer, footballs in fall, snowballs in winter. We even squeeze stress balls (containing unidentified malleable substances) for exercise and/or relief.

Heck, for more than a century, Americans have gathered in Times Square to celebrate the New Year with—you guessed it—a big ball drop.  I also believe a strong argument can be made that the disco ball is the only surviving relic of the 70s.  (That, and Donna Summer is still alive, I think.)  Then there’s the solar system; it’s fucking packed with balls!

In keeping with humanity’s amorous embrace of balls, USC’s Lab Theatre will soon unveil one woman’s bouncy tale involving tasty spherical delights and the ballsy fortitude it takes to give them up.  In “The Book of Liz,” lead character Sister Elizabeth Donderstock supports herself and her religious community of Cluster Haven with—you guessed it—balls.  Cheese balls, that is.

In 2001, bestselling author and NPR commentator David Sedaris and sister Amy Sedaris (“Strangers With Candy”) collectively wrote and produced this Off Broadway play.  â€œThe Book of Liz” is a satire that gladly throws a big ball of “what the hell?” at the theatergoing masses.  Team Sedaris is a well-rounded playwright duo with a refined penchant for delivering an hour and a half of creative, if not painful, balls-to-the-walls comedy.

The fate of the ball-reformed nun plays out like a cultural hall of mirrors; distorted and alternate portrayals of reality.  Liz, played by USC senior Sociology major Anne Reid, encounters all kinds of mainstream and fringe stereotypes in a “quasi-divided” States of America.  Theatre majors Rocco Thompson, Brittany Price Anderson, and Jakes Mesches fill out the cast as an array of characters who keep the ball bouncing through standard Sedaris sarcastic hilarity.

Second year USC Theatre MFA student Jennifer Goff ably directs this talented cast.  And I can’t help but chuckle at the fact that Goff was also a founding member of Greenville’s The Distracted Globe Theatre Company.

Okay, so “The Book of Liz” isn’t quite Shakespeare—that is, unless you can imagine the Bard composing a tale about the testicular gumption required by a member of the Squeamish sect (a parody offshoot of the Amish) to turn away from making and selling delicious smoky cheese balls.  I think Shakespeare really missed out here.  (O, for a muse of balls that would descend!)

The Book of Liz runs October 22-25 at USC Lab Theatre (on Wheat Street across from Blatt PE Center on the USC campus).  Tickets are $5 and are available at the door.  Show begins at 8 p.m.  (Bring your own balls.)  Call 777.9353 for information.  To learn more about USC Lab Theatre, visit www.cas.sc.edu/thea/.

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