Written by William Missouri Downs

Directed by Leah Smith

February 25 - April 3, 2022

A man claiming to be Franz Kafka has a near-death experience comically interrupted by a parade of strangers all seeking the answers to life’s deepest questions.

Curtain Times:

Fridays | 8:30 P.M.
Saturdays | 3 P.M. & 8:30 P.M.
Sundays | 2 P.M.

The Theatre always opens one hour before curtain time. Please allow extra time as we are checking Vaccination cards at the door for each show. The Rep is famous for starting exactly on time.

*Please note, due to the intimacy of the theatre, latecomers will not be seated.

The Company

William Missouri Downs (Playwright) has had over 300 productions of his plays in the US, including the Detroit Rep (Forgiving John Lennon, 2011). He has also been produced in South Africa, Spain, Canada, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland, UAE, Austria, Israel, India, and South Korea. He’s won numerous playwriting awards, including rolling premieres from the National New Play Network, and he’s twice been a finalist at the Eugene O’Neill. In addition, he’s published 12 plays and four books, including The Art Of Theatre (Cengage), Screenplay: Writing the Picture (Silman James), and Naked Playwriting (Silman James). He has an MFA in acting from the University of Illinois and has performed in 25 plays and directed 40. In addition, he has an MFA in screenwriting from UCLA and has written for several NBC television shows.

Leah Smith (Director) has now directed nine productions at the Rep: Burying the Bones, A Thousand Circlets, The Kiss of the Sun for Pardon, My Occasion of Sin, Devil Dog Six, Capital, Dauphin Island, The House on Poe Street, and the now postponed Rules for Active Shooters. She began as an actor at the Detroit Rep exactly 20 years ago in Jar the Floor in the 2001/2002 season. Ten years ago in 2011, she appeared in another William Missouri Downs play, Forgiving John Lennon, directed by Harry Wetzel. Ms. Smith is honored to bring this funny, absurd but loving ode to performing artists to the Rep stage in her inaugural season as Artistic Director.

Harry Wetzel (Ensemble) is particularly excited to be performing in the inaugural production with Leah Smith as Artistic Director.
He last appeared on the Rep stage as Karl Marx in Capital. His other favorite roles include Bellomy in The Fantasticks, John Merrick in The Elephant Man, and Larry in Disability, A Comedy.
He also appeared in Twelve Monkeys, the Series, and played John Whitten in Till We're Free, The Murder of Emmett Till.
Mr. Wetzel has been designing, building, and painting the sets here, at the Rep, since before the turn of the century. He lives with his cat Aleksandra, and they both love listening to Rachmaninov.

Jonathon Jones (Ensemble) is thrilled to be returning to the Rep stage with the production of Asking Strangers the Meaning of Life and bringing live theatre back to the Detroit community with the Rep.
He last appeared at the Detroit Rep in The House on Poe Street in 2019. A sampling of other theatre credits include A Midsummer Nights Dream and Silent Cinderella with Black and Brown Theatre, The Frogs at Slipstream, and Kill Move Paradise at Theatre Nova.
He earned an MFA in Applied Drama and Theatre for the Young from EMU.
Mr. Jones expresses many thanks to his friends and family for their love and support, especially his brother Sealoyd and his mother Jackie.

Hallie Bee Bard (Ensemble) Hallie is excited to be back in a theatre with real live humans playing with a play!
This is her debut on the Rep stage. However, she is a familiar face to area theatre-goers. You may have recently seen her in The Miss Firecracker Contest, Boeing Boeing, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance at Tipping Point Theatre; Birthday Candles, Sex with Strangers at Detroit Public Theatre, Hate Mail at Williamston Theatre. She is honored to quilt together an artistic life as an actor, reiki master, doula, and magical creatrix. Ms. Bard says “thanks all the artists and to my gorgeous family. And thank YOU for (safely) supporting live, local, professional theatre.”

Tamara PiLar (Ensemble) is thrilled to be making her DRT debut! Locally she has appeared in Once On This Island, and A Christmas Carol at Meadow Brook Theatre. She has also appeared Off-Broadway in Twelfth Night, The Odyssey , As You Like It at The Public Theater in NYC. Regionally she was in Hairspray with North Shore Music Theatre, Little Shop of Horrors at Crane School of Music. She has also appeared on "Last Week Tonight" with John Oliver.
She is a singer-songwriter with singles (How Could I, LOVESiCK and Mirror Mirror) on all streaming platforms and her highly anticipated debut album set to be released in April 2022.
Ms. PiLar expresses “Thanks to God, her amazing family, iconic friends and the entire DRT team!”

Miles Bond (Ensemble) is finally making his DRT acting debut. He has been active on stages around the metro Detroit area for over seven years now. Most recently he has been on the Ringwald’s stage in Puffs, in Kill Move Paradise at Theatre Nova, Kimberly Akimbo at Open Book Theatre, Broke-ology with the Detroit Actor’s Theatre Company, and as Peter in Peter & the Starcatcher with OCC and Stagecrafters.
From Mr. Bond, “A huge thank you to my mother for her unending support and everyone at the Detroit Rep for a warm welcome and for their hard work towards making sure we get to get back to doing what we love most safely.”

Jeff Nahan (Assistant Director/Stage Manager) is a veteran actor, director, producer of 52 years. He was former Ex. Dir. of Performing Arts at Detroit Country Day and founder of Actors Alliance Theatre. His debut at the Rep was in The Hairy Ape in 1972. He currently serves as the DRT Board of Trustees’ Treasurer. From Jeff, “For Annette- “I’ll be loving you, ALWAYS.”