Slapstick comedy will provide plenty of laughs

County Seat Theater Company opens this weekend with "Black Comedy," billed as a hilarious, crowd-pleasing slapstick comedy. The show features several colorful, duplicitous characters stumbling around a pitch-black room - all in full view of the audience, who watch the events unfold in full light.

Set in London in the 1960s, lovesick and desperate sculptor Brindsley Miller (portrayed by Preston Johnson) has embellished his apartment with furniture and objects d'arte "borrowed" from the absent antique collector next door, hoping to impress his fiancée's pompous father and a wealthy art dealer. The fussy neighbor, Harold Gorringe (Jason Vandervort), returns just as a blown fuse plunges the apartment into darkness, and Brindsley is revealed.

Unexpected guests, aging spinsters, errant phone cords, and other snares impede his frantic attempts to return the purloined items before light is restored.

The County Seat Theater Company will present performances at 7 p.m. March 15-16 and March 21-22, and at 2 p.m. March 17 and March 23-24, at the Encore Performing Arts Center in Cloquet. Tickets can be reserved by calling the box office at 218-878-0071 or online at http://www.countyseattheater.com.

The featured artist in the gallery during the run of this production is Kris "the Chair Lady" Nelson. Nelson's works feature repurposed painted chairs. Every chair tells a story and has its own personality. "I want to excite the imagination and stimulate the emotions of my viewers," said Nelson. The art show featuring Nelson's work and a dozen other area artists will be shown throughout the run of "Black Comedy."