In ‘Reefer,’ Benicia thespians tackle the sublimely ridiculous

By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

Everyone knows: Marijuana kills.

At least, that’s what everyone thought they knew in the first half of the 20th century. That misinformation — spread eagerly by official propaganda — is the basis of the spoof “Reefer Madness: The Musical,” which opens Friday, the latest production of Benicia Old Town Theatre Group.

“It is a spoof of that whole movie genre,” said BOTTG’s Dan Clark, “of, ‘Your kids are going crazy. One toke of marijuana and they’re going to be killing each other and killing the neighbors and raping, looting and pillaging.

“It’s all very tongue-in-cheek, and it’s going to be great fun.”

The stage musical is loosely based on the 1936 film “Reefer Madness,” a cautionary-tale-gone-wrong that exaggerated the effects of cannabis and sensationalized — in unintentionally hilarious ways — the lifestyle of marijuana users and the perils of associating with them.

Perhaps because of the frankly farcical source material, there hasn’t been a lot of controversy surrounding BOTTG’s choice of the musical, Clark said.

“I think that everybody realizes that this is sort of fun,” he said.

Still, it is a production theater-goers will want to leave the kids home for. “This is adult theater. When we do R-rated stuff or things that have language or themes, we try to be pretty up-front with people about, ‘You know, this probably isn’t for your kids,’” said Clark, former president and current vice president of BOTTG’s board of directors.

BOTTG doesn’t do children’s theater — what it does, he said, is consistently excellent theater twice a year — well-acted, well-directed and well-designed.

Clark knows: He’s worked with BOTTG — doing everything from set design to acting, and sometimes filling multiple roles in one production — since 1972.

“It’s been 40 years of fun, and 40 years of hard work,” he said.

He said he’s been less involved in “Reefer Madness” because of recent knee surgery. But that has given him a chance to be a fan again.

Clark admits he often gets so involved with a BOTTG production he is there every night to watch rehearsals, and “by the time opening night rolls around, it’s sort of anticlimactic,” he said. But not this time.

This time, “I want to see the whole thing from beginning to end on opening night just like everyone else.

“I think it’s going to be great fun. I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve purposely stayed away from rehearsals because I want to see the finished product myself.”

The theater group has planned a champagne gala for opening night, April 20, at which audience members can enjoy champagne with the cast after the show.

The thespians also are working with downtown eatery Lucca Bar and Grill on a dinner special — a throwback to earlier days, Clark said. “We started at first as a dinner theater. At one point we were the oldest running dinner theater west of the Mississippi,” he said. They stopped doing dinner productions in the mid-1990s “because it got to be too much work,” he said.

“This time we’re doing a little step-back. We’re offering a special meal-theater ticket deal for opening Saturday and Sunday.”

The $35 special includes a meal before the play, and on Sunday a dinner after the matinee.

“Lucca’s has been really good with us about this,” Clark said.

BOTTG Presents
Benicia Old Town Theatre Group will perform “Reefer Madness: The Musical,” directed by Matthew Teague Miller and running April 20 through May 19. Showtimes at the B.D.E.S. Hall, 140 West J St., are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are available by calling 707-746-1269.