FringeNYC Previews

Big Thick Rod

Produced by Rabbit Hole Ensemble

Author: Stanton Wood

Big Thick Rod is a modern fable about a wood nymph who marries a lawyer and moves out of the forest and into the city. Her discovery that he just wanted a trophy wife and never wants to have sex unleashes a power struggle that creates unexpected chaos. Using a clear theatricality, role reversals, and sharp, biting humor, the play is a slightly surreal and refreshingly fun "love story" that deals seriously with the issue of exploitation as an intrinsic quality of human relationships. Big Thick Rod is no cheap thrill or one-trick pony. Audiences can indeed expect a lot of clever, bawdy humor, but they should not check their intellect at the door. This surprisingly warm-hearted play offers an eye-opening vision of a world where everything literally has a price, including love.

We live in a world that would collapse if we did not lie, cheat, and exploit each other. Big Thick Rod reflects the darker aspects of our capitalist world as well as others like hope, trust, and compassion that provide some much needed balance. Audiences should see Rod because it’s a highly entertaining way to discuss some of our darker and unfortunately currently prevalent issues.

Rabbit Hole Ensemble chose to present Big Thick Rod for several reasons. It's hugely entertaining and Stanton Wood, the playwright, creates a wonderful world of sexual economics that we find endearing and provocative at the same time. The idea that to love someone is to exploit them on some level is pretty radical. Radical maybe only because it's so obviously true and so obviously something that we actively deny. I don't know that the idea would work if it were presented as a drama. Stan's comedy is so skillfully subversive that you don't even notice the implications until you've finished grinning.

Photo by Edward Elefterion, photographer

Edward Elefterion, director