Jeb Berrier Discusses His Play, Office Party

17 Dec Jeb Berrier Discusses His Play, Office Party

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Jeb Berrier is Robin Williams on skis: a deranged lunatic with exhibitionist leanings and talent to burn.

During the Christmas season, the actor/director likes to hang with a few of his close friends, fellow actors, and put on a holiday play at the historic Sheridan Opera House. In general, we are talking tour de farce.

Case in point, this years romp: Bob's Holiday Office Party.

Office Party is a lewd, crude alternative to standard holiday treacle such as Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful Life.

Showtime is 8 p.m., December 18-22, at the Opera House.

In this irreverent, crude, fast-paced, ferociously funny production an insurance ace Bob Finhead (Jeb) prepares to host yet another annual holiday boozefest. His guests are his neighbors, the genetically challenged denizens of Neuterberg, Iowa, a paean to small-town America, where life happens. And all is not well.

Bob wants more out of life than One for the Road key chains: he dreams of a move to the wider world of Des Moines, where he can become an inventor. Bob's buddy, Sheriff Joe Walker thinks the only thing to do with an urge like that is to take it out and shoot it. An AA member who is creatively trying to eclipse his beer drinking by switching to whiskey, Joe embraces his small-town life literally. When he is not rousting strangers from the local park, he is out cheating on his 750-pound wife.

Bob's dream seems within reach when the one-time class-dweeb-turned-land-baron Elwin Bewee returns to town and offers him a tidy sum for the business.

The rest of the plot, as thin as toilet paper, is simply a pretext for portraits of a cavalcade of losers developed through improvisation and sight gags.

Hold on tight. Jeb's Office Party is bound to be a bumpy ride.

In his podcast, Jeb talks about his history in theater, and the cast and crew of Office Party, which includes:

Ashley Boling
Sasha Cucciniello
Jade Graham
Paul Jones
Jesse James Martin
Dahlia Mertens
Tom Shane
Bubba Lee Schill

Stage Manager is Sara Doehrman.