“We are not all professional actors, but all things considered, watching our show is like watching NASCAR races. There’s definitely some skill involved, but the real fun is in watching the crashes.” So says Jim Harris, founder of Mt. Airy Home Companion, a company of local comics, actors, and musicians who have been performing satirical original shows about local issues since 2012.
“I was a big fan of ‘[A] Prairie Home Companion,’” Harris said, “so I originally suggested to my band, Saint Mad, that we do a ‘fake’ radio play based loosely on that music and comedy format. They agreed, and we ran ads for actors. We got a good reaction from the audience, so we did it again and again, usually for about 100 people, but at The Conkey Center [at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy], we had more than 300. We have also performed at The Rotunda in University City and as part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.”
Harris said, “People kept asking me, ‘When are you going to have another Mt. Airy Home Companion?’ So, I rounded up the gang and they agreed that we need to get back on stage and celebrate America’s 250th anniversary.” The company will perform their latest show, “Give Me Liberty,” Oct 4 and 5 at Allens Lane Art Center in Mt. Airy.
Inspired by Garrison Keillor’s Minnesota Public Radio show, “A Prairie Home Companion,” the Mt. Airy version presents original skits and musical parodies that mostly align with Mt. Airy’s liberal reputation. But if you expect to see the kind of biting satire about Donald Trump that appears on TV from bona fide satirists such as Stephen Colbert or Jimmy Kimmel, you may be disappointed.
“We do not name names,” Harris said. “It’s highly unlikely we’ll have any ‘conservative activists’ in our audience, but if we do, we want them to have a good time, too. Anyway, we’ve been in the red from day one, so we’re not worried about being defunded.”
Mt. Airy Home Companion stages the company’s show as if it were a radio presentation with news and entertainment. This new version takes the shape of a play in which a trio of Mt. Airy residents are picked to time-travel to Independence Hall on July 4, 1776, and report back to the Mt. Airy Semiquincentennial Celebration Committee.
The first act of “Give Me Liberty” features a claustrophobic mime, a big-foam-finger artist and a caveman mini-drama. The second act finds those time travelers at Independence Hall, where Thomas Jefferson is trying to make the Declaration of Independence rhyme, “Hamilton”-style. The show is as frothy as cotton candy.
Mt. Airy Home Companion’s cast and crew includes 15 members, 13 of whom live in Northwest Philadelphia. According to Molly Mahoney, a cast member since the beginning, “What we do is a celebration by and for Mt. Airy, our special community.”
One of their all-time favorite bits featured former cast member Jake Michael as a fruitcake, singing “What Kind of Food am I?” Some of the alleged local businesses that have “advertised” on the show were Lip Balm of All Nations and No Nuts, the store that sells everything but nuts. The last time we checked, they were all failing to turn a profit along Mt. Airy’s “Golden Half-Mile.”
The price of admission to Mt. Airy Home Companion used to be $25, but was lowered this year to $20, which some cast members say is proof that “all of this talk about inflation is a total scam.”
Mt. Airy Home Companion’s “Give Me Liberty,” Allens Lane Art Center, 601 W. Allens Lane, Mt. Airy. Saturday, Oct. 4, 7 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 5, 2 p.m., $20. For tickets or more information, contact 215-248-0546 or visit allenslane.org/theater.
Len Lear can be reached at LenLear@chestnuthilllocal.com.
