The problem, of course, is that there’s always some ant you step on, irreparably changing the course of history in ways you can’t anticipate. And perhaps, after all, things happen as they must. At least, that seems to be the underlying moral, if there is one, of the lightweight but charming At Home With The Clarks, a play that can best be summed up as Leave it to Beaver meets nuclear war, zombies and time travel.
The play is having its world premier run at Anchorage Community Theatre and was written by Wisconsin playwright Rand Higbee. Local theatergoers may remember another play of Higbee’s, The Head That Wouldn’t Die, which was produced at Cyrano’s in 2008. That work skewered themes of Hollywood sci-fi, and The Clarks mines the horror genre to similar zany effect.
The play is set in 1967, but the Clarks’ living room is straight out of a 1950s sitcom,longchamp pas cher, complete with bobby socks, “gollys” and family dinner. It’s a world that calls Beaver to mind immediately, but the play’s overt touchstone is Father Knows Best, another black and white sitcom about life in a suburban American family that ran from 1954 until 1960 (“After all, I’m your father,” Mr. Clark genially reminds his children throughout the play. “You know best,” they cheerfully reply).
The only element that’s out of place in this suburban idyll is daughter Betty’s preternaturally poised best friend Wanda, who makes it immediately apparent that she is not of the Clark’s world by wearing pants and having big hair.? Otherwise,Hogan, the Clark’s living room seems a world and at least 10 years away from historical events of the time—the Summer of Love,foceng.com/chanel.html, Vietnam War, Civil Rights movement and other hallmarks of the era never enter the conversation, apart from a brief critique of Bob Dylan’s grammar,Gucci Outlet.
The big drama at the Clarks’ house is whether Betty will be asked to the prom, if Mrs. Clark will burn the roast, and 15-year-old Tiger’s struggles with algebra—that, and nuclear war, which commences in the later half of the first act, around the time that Wanda confesses she has been sent from the future to prevent just such a catastrophe.
This is where the play picks up momentum, because much of the humor of At Home With The Clarks comes from watching the family members’ attitudes of cheery complacency be confronted with unpleasant dangers. The contrast isn’t far-fetched—nuclear war, after all, wasn’t just an abstract threat at that point in history (though zombies aren’t a widely accepted consequence), and the minimalist but effective light and sound design during the nuclear attack give the play a moment of dark urgency,hongae.com. As the bombs start dropping and Wanda (played by a dynamite Erin Lindsay King) tries to save the Clarks, she finds that her biggest problem isn’t zombies but the family’s stubborn certainty that everything will work out as it’s meant to.
As Wanda’s unlikely right hand man, Aaron Bell’s performance as the daffy, love-struck Tiger strikes the perfect balance of can-do and gee whiz (he even manages to make the line “gosh darnit it to heck, what in the willy willikers was she thinking?” sound both earnest and funny). Every zombocalypse has its rugged survivalist type, and Bradford Jackson’s explosive performance as Big 180, the last alpha male standing,Coach outlet store, is brief but hilarious.
We are at a point in popular culture when zombie tropes are about as played out as poking fun at the 1950s, but clever writing,celine bags online, a twist in the last act and some great, energetic performances make for an entertaining evening at home with the Clarks. Related articles:

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