What does ‘trivial’ mean? LAB asks in new dark comedy

What if the tensile bonds of friendship could be tested – and maybe even broken – via a simple board game? If you win, we’re still friends. If you lose … that’s all, folks.

Playwright Guy R. Newsham takes this notion and rolls with it, like a pair of loaded dice, in Green Cheese, a dark comedy now onstage at LAB Theater Project in Tampa. Two men, pals since their college days, are playing Trivial Pursuit with their wives. Phil and Mike happen to work for the same tech company, and Olive, Phil’s wife, is the company CEO.

The company is in the red, and her board insists she fire one of them. She can’t make a decision, so Olive has the novel idea to match the termination to whoever loses at the game.

When the play begins, Nora – Mike’s artist wife – is about to roll. Knowing how high the stakes are, she’s taking her sweet time. Much to the consternation of the others.

From there, events pick up speed (and impact) like a snowball racing downhill.

“The initial idea came from playing Trivial Pursuit online with friends – and did they really roll what they said they rolled?” explains playwright Newsham. “And that got me thinking about relationships you’ve had for years and years, friends from university.

“There’s a line in the play that says this outright: “If we met for the first time now, would we be friends? Or are we only friends because we’ve always been friends?” It’s about how people change over time. That was another thought that I wanted to explore a bit.”

Green Cheese is fraught with tension – yes, the stakes are ridiculously high – but it’s also funny, as Phil and Mike nervously match wits and insults the way they’ve done for years, and Olive and Nora compare notes on their not-quite-grown-up spouses.

“There was also just the idea of looking at reality shows on TV getting more and more extreme,” Newsham adds. “You had The Apprentice, where people are getting fired from fake jobs. But I started thinking, how long is it going to be before we have a reality show on TV where people get fired from real jobs? And so I started to work that idea in there.

“The idea of making it literally ‘trivial’ was appealing to me as well.”

Newsham, a native Englishman who makes his home in Ottawa, Canada, will visit Tampa this weekend, for the first time. He’ll watch the LAB production of his play.

He’s already met director Katie Calahan, producer Owen Robertson and the cast via Zoom calls. They do table reads of the script, and everyone – especially the director, who’s in charge of the operation – makes suggestions.

“They want the chance to have some input and eventually, a new draft,” Newsham explains. “I think overall I took maybe two pages off the script; tightened it up a little bit all the way through. Nothing radical, just quite small changes.”

LAB is the only professional theater in the bay area that produces only new works, shows that have never been performed. Playwrights are invited to submit work for consideration. Newsham’s plays have been selected for more than 100 productions – and prizes – in five countries.

“Most of the plays I’ve written that have been produced are the result of me responding to an open call,” he says. “A lot of theaters will put out open calls to the world, saying they’re looking for new scripts, please submit. There’s various conditions. But that’s generally what I do, respond to these open calls.

“And like any kind of writing in that way, you mostly get rejected, because there’s a lot of competition. Your hit rate is usually less than five percent.

“So I responded to one of the LAB calls – and this time I got lucky to be selected.”

For showtimes, tickets, directions and other information, visit this link.