FOND DU LAC (NBC 26) — A Fond du Lac playwright is making his vision a reality. Kim Ruyle’s original play A Crooked French Affair is premiering this weekend as part of a statewide festival of plays and musicals, called “World Premiere Wisconsin.”
Ruyle describes the play, presented by the Fond du Lac Community Theater, as an "irreverent comedy" that he hopes will draw some laughs from audiences.
“It's about a playwright who's kind of an insecure guy,” Ruyle said. “His wife is having an affair with the husband of a board member on the community theater. He has the idea of writing the play set in France as kind of a way to find some catharsis and emotional release from his experiences, the turmoil he's experiencing.”
Ruyle said this is his first time writing a “play within a play” and, like the protagonist, he is also a director as well as playwright.
“I feel a little bit like life is imitating the arts in this case,” Ruyle said.
Ruyle says he’s excited to be a part of world premiere Wisconsin.
“It's the first of its kind, where a state has dedicated a period of the year and enlisted theaters to produce original works,” Ruyle said.
Actors like Lynn Moon say the premiere will be a unique experience for audiences, too.
“It's very exciting to be onstage doing a role that's never been played before,” Moon said. “Doing a show that's never been seen before. And for the audience to come and see something that's never been seen before.”
Actor Michael Detert said it's been exciting to embody a character that no other actor has portrayed.
“We're leaving a mark hopefully, hopefully something that will be done many, many more times over the course of a number of production years,” Detert said. and to be able to say that we're the first to share in that with the man who wrote it and is directing it is unlike anything I've ever experienced before.”
Ellie Thelen Clementi said that as an actor, the idea of bringing a new experience to audience is exciting.
“I hope that they have as much fun watching it as the actors have performing it,” Thelen Clementi said.
The play will run Thursday, Friday and Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. with a matinee show on Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the door or online for $3 less.
