Tonight the Three Rivers Community Players (TRCP) will debut “9 PM, Saturday Night,” an original show written and directed by Eathan Bingaman. The show will run for two weekends, with performances on Fridays and Saturdays beginning at 7:30 p.m., and matinees on Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15, and $13 for students and seniors.
“9 PM, Saturday Night” answers the question posed by one of the characters in the story: “What the hell are you supposed to do when you live in a world where the music stops, but the lyrics don’t?” “9 PM” takes place in a world beyond the lyrics of famous, classic songs, and is set in a bar dubbed “Pianamin Pub,” in the land of Joeltown. Full of colorful personalities loosely based on the works of Billy Joel, Bowling for Soup, Taylor Swift, and more, the show follows lyrical personas as they fight for what they’ve always wanted: freedom.
Bingaman first began play writing in 2020 as a way of keeping a creative outlet while theaters were closed during the pandemic. While his other five plays are still in the editing stage, “9 PM” is his first to be finished and to have reached the production stage. “I hope to take audience feedback and strengthen the script from here,” he told Watershed Voice. Bingaman is a self-described “actor first” kind of writer, and said he is passionate about diving into his characters and figuring out what makes them tick. “Why do the characters act the way they do? How can I use their characteristics to comedic or dramatic effect?” Bingaman said on his writing process, “It’s like I get to play all the characters myself while I’m writing and that’s the joy of it. The details are so important to me, as well. As Sondheim would put it, ‘God is in the details.’”
The concept for “9 PM” stemmed from Bingaman finding he had playlist-after-playlist filled with works by Elton John, The Beatles, and his other favorite artists. “The writing style comes from my childhood where I used to like writing stories, combining a ton of different characters together and seeing how they interact with each other,” he said. Bingaman’s creative inspiration also came from Steven Sondheim’s “Into the Woods,” as well as the popular video game Super Smash Bros Brawl. “This story began as a D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) campaign set in this world, which is the reason why it has so much lore behind it, and slowly I developed it into a plot about wanting to escape the place you are, and if that’s not an option—how do you stay and make the place you are better?”
The show is packed with references to “Eleanor Rigby,” “Sweet Caroline,” “Stacy’s Mom,” and “Jessie’s Girl,” but Bingaman said there were several songs which didn’t make the cut. “Originally there were about 10 more characters in the show,” he said. “The runtime became so long that it wouldn’t work as a play. Jack and Diane, Major Tom, and a lot of characters I really wanted to flesh out just didn’t work in the narrative of a two and a half hour show. Some people have writers block— unfortunately, for this show, it was very much the opposite.”
“9 PM” is unique for several reasons, one being Bingaman wrote the show with the option of each production being able to choose an alternate ending. He said the original ending is full, detailed, and summarizes everything he wanted to say in the piece of work. “The other ending is silly and goofy—I left it in the script because I hope one day we won’t need the original ending I wrote,” Bingaman said. “I hope one day we can just have the silly, goofy one, but that’s not what needs to be said right now though.” To future directors and productions performing “9 PM” he has this piece of advice: “If you don’t know which ending to pick, then ask the youngest person in your cast. They will tell you what resonates.”
The greatest challenge in Bingaman bringing his show to life has been obstacles with editing, and he called it the worst part of writing and directing. “There’s a saying about editing that goes, ‘Sometimes you gotta kill your babies,’” he said. “It’s true, you’ll create a wonderful bundle of joy made out of words and poetry and character dynamics—then the true King Solomon called ‘run time’ will tell you to slice your bundles in half. I’m not a parent, I’m an artist, so slice I must.”
Bingaman is deeply proud of his cast and crew and all of their hard work, saying they always show up ready to play in the space. “My directing style incorporates moments of ad-lib or improv and they take full advantage of that,” he said. “They will sometimes come up with something on the spot that is so funny I’ll write it down to make sure their hard work is immortalized in print.” He said this is one reason why being part of an original cast is so wonderful. “I’d be remised if I didn’t credit each and every one of them as a collaborator in making this show what it is. Actors create actively on the spot, and this show is the proof of that. I’ve been blessed with an incredibly talented group.”
“9 PM, Saturday Night” runs April 14-16, and 21-23. There will be a special pay-what-you-can night on Saturday, April 15. Tickets will start that evening at $5, and additional donations will be accepted. The show is rated PG-13 for some swearing, sexual references, and mild violence. Tickets are available online on the TRCP website.
Beca Welty is a staff writer and columnist for Watershed Voice.
