Buntport’s gross-out comedy is its funniest in years

‘Eyes Up, Mouth Agape’ a twisted study in perspective — and poop

Once upon a time, on Aug. 8, 2004, Chicago’s Little Lady had 800 pounds of liquid human waste dumped on her as she passed beneath a bridge.

The perpetrator was a Dave Matthews Band tour bus, and the contents of the coach’s septic tank passed through the metal grates of the Kinzie Street Bridge and onto an unsuspecting group of people on the tour boat. They were looking up, mouths agape, at Chicago’s skyline when they were defiled and befouled in the most appalling manner.

Blecchhh!

For most, this 20-year-old incident is best forgotten. But for Buntport Theatre Company, Denver’s all-originals troupe, it sounded like a good idea for a play. It’s gross, for sure — a poop, pee, vomit and fart joke spectacular that gleefully flouts good taste while delivering perhaps the most laugh-out-loud funny Buntport show in recent memory.

This one has a few departures from a typical Buntport production — if such a thing exists. For one, all of the characters are inanimate objects. The bus is played by Brian Colonna; Chicago’s Little Lady is, of course, Hannah Duggan; the bridge is brought to moribund life by Erik Edborg; and Erin Rollman is a filmmaker doing a documentary about The Dave Matthews Bus Incident. And while those four typically comprise a Buntport cast (with SamAnTha Schmitz offstage), Eyes Up includes guest Emily K. Harrison as the guitar-strumming Sears (Willis) Tower.

Erik Edborg as the Kinzie Street Bridge and Emily K. Harrison as the Sears Tower | Photo: Buntport Theater

Mounting pressure

The other big difference is the addition of music, which isn’t a typical component for Buntport. High atop the set and wearing a headpiece suggesting the top of the Sears Tower, Harrison adds musical flourishes throughout while there’s even a bit of a choreographed number toward the end.

Eyes Up also includes a live video element that’s become something of a signature for Buntport. Rollman sits upstage with three cameras, which she alternately turns on the bus, the bridge, the boat and the building with the stream appearing onscreen — just like a documentary cutting to separate interviews. It’s a neat way to present a film documentary onstage, even though the actors are compelled to sit in the dark when the camera is trained on other subjects. (It also has the added benefit of allowing actors to face away from the audience while still having their face in shot.)

What follows is a series of interviews that start off pretty tame and then escalate into all manner of whining, finger-pointing and recriminations as the objects recount the DMB bus incident from their own unique vantage point. Buntport went all out on the costumes, with Duggan, Colonna and Edborg in all-black body suits and wearing their well-designed object around their waist.

Rollman’s character goes from the calm, agnostic documentarian to an active, opinionated participant as the objects drive her to distraction with their internecine squabbles and criticism leveled at the filmmaker herself. Even the Sears Building goes from impartial observer to a judgmental, god-like figure inserting itself into the action.

As the documentarian digs deeper into their accounts, we see more and more of the personalities. Colonna’s bus is clearly the main culprit, but his character starts spinning the story like a PR crisis pro, deflecting the blame and even at one point trying to pin it on the tour bus of the band Linkin Park (the ol’ second bus theory).

The Little Lady grows increasingly fired up as the real victim here (never mind the passengers). It’s another great performance by Duggan, made even more impactful because the mere sight of her as the daintily named boat is simply hilarious — and in stark contrast to the character’s strident assertions of its victimhood.

Meanwhile, both of them discount the role of the bridge since the vile excreta passed right through its grates. Edborg is perfect as the Kinzie Street Bridge — a morose, sad-sack character whose deadpan delivery neatly complements the more frenetic bus and boat.

I’ve seen many Buntport shows over the years, and I’ve grown quite accustomed to the core four actors and the type of material they create. It’s kind of like having a corner diner where the staff never changes, they know how you like your coffee and even if the daily special isn’t exactly your cup of tea, you know it’s always something good. In Eyes Up, Buntport serves up something with a bit more over-the-top spice while Harrison adds a fresh voice and guitar to the melee.

Eyes Up, Mouth Agape is definitely the most disgusting play I’ve ever seen, and a bit of a challenge to my general prudishness around the scatological. But if you can get on board with the “everybody poops” mindset and the utter hilarity of the situation as recreated by the Buntport crew, you’re in for a very funny and utterly unique night at the theatre.