LAB! Theatre performance features pirates, Canadians and Billy Joel

Billy Joel’s music has the power to unite many different people — including pirates and Canadians.

This Sunday, LAB! Theatre is presenting a free staged reading of “Arr? Eh! A Canadian Pirate’s Tale to the Tune of Billy Joel,” which was co-written and directed by UNC Senior Cameron Yow.

He said the musical is about identity.

“The play is really about finding who you are and balancing that with your relationship with others,” he said. “Finding a compromise between your self-determined identity and your identity determined by your relationships with others — that sounds profound, but the play’s pretty wacky.”

As opposed to a conventional musical, a staged reading lacks many embellishments, such as extravagant costumes and set design. What it lacks in resources, the show makes up for in intimacy, said junior Ethan Carleton, the play’s stage manager.

“It’s a more intimate setting — we’re going to be in a classroom, and the barrier between the audience and that cast that would normally be there will be there to a far lesser degree in the staged reading,” he said. “It’s a very silly show — it’s got a heart to it.”

Yow co-wrote this musical with his high school friend Tony Whitehead, a recent N.C. State University graduate. Previously, the duo had written a short musical about Buddha to the tune of Michael Jackson songs for a high school project.

“It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed writing together … we thought it would be cool to get together and write a play to Billy Joel music because we both love Billy Joel,” Yow said. “It’s like what Weird Al does, except in our case it has a narrative — not that we’re as talented as Weird Al.”

With a concept as ridiculous as this, a staged reading has benefits besides cost-efficiency, said junior Charlotte Parrott, who plays Eddy the Bartender and several smaller roles in the reading.

“You forget that there aren’t crazy costumes and weird lighting things because the work speaks for itself,” she said. “I think staged readings rely more on the intelligence of their audience members, too. It’s more open-ended — you’re trying to actually pay attention to the lines and envision your own idea as it’s coming together.”

Parrott also said staged readings provide actors with different challenges than a full production.

“The emphasis isn’t on the performance — it’s on the text,” she said. “You have to give it your best shot, but you don’t have the time or rehearsal process that goes along with production to develop the character and play with different ideas on stage. Staged readings require a much more text-heavy approach to the play.”

The play was put together in one week with daily rehearsals. Though LAB! Theatre, as an entirely student-run production company, lacks certain resources, Yow said the theater’s accessibility attracted him.

“Ever since I‘ve come to UNC I’ve been going to the LAB! Theatre shows, and I’ve always liked how they’ve been able to put on some really good productions for free,” he said. “We wanted people to have access to our work and not have to pay for it.”

While Yow said he is grateful to see his work produced, writing plays is simply something he enjoys and doesn’t plan to pursue professionally.

“(Whitehead) and I are always hoping we’ll get a call from Joss Whedon asking us to work on ‘Avengers 2,’ but beyond that it’s not something we want to do professionally — it’s really just for fun,” he said.

arts@dailytarheel.com