DAMAGED FURNITURE by Carol Kaufman Segal

            Damaged Furniture is a new comedy by Howard Skora, directed by Jim Fall, and playing at the  Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks.  This might be, at least, one of the funniest comedies if not the funniest you will ever see.  I promise you a laugh a minute!

            Doug (Alex Skuby) is a middle-aged man who left his family to become an actor and to get away from the family furniture business run by his father Phil (Robert Mangiardi) and his uncle.  But when he is asked to come home because his uncle has died, Doug rushes back to the family in Brooklyn.  When he arrives home, we meet one of the most dysfunctional families you might imagine.

            Meet Doug’s recently widowed Aunt Laurie (Mo Collins) who tells Doug what she lived through with her late husband, the fact that he had an unusual obsession.  He found furniture sexy and continually made love to an expensive Italian recliner.  She isn’t certain whether it was, or was not, a mutual affair! 

            Doug discovers that his alcoholic father recently lost an eye to cancer, and he can no longer continue working in the furniture store. Doug was expecting to be called to audition for an acting job that could be the big chance for his career but, now that he is “home”, his mother, Irene (Peggy Maltby Etra), expects him to take over the family business.  His sister Gina (Jessica Pohly) makes us wonder how she ever made it through school to become a therapist.  (Does she really earn a living as one?)

            Doug never wanted to be a part of the family business.  That is why he opted for another career and left home.  Now he has been put on the spot.  Will he give up his career and stay for the sake of the family, or will he disappoint them all and go back to Los Angeles?

            I can’t really describe all of the idiosyncrasies that go on in this family, but I guarantee you, they will keep you in “stitches” throughout.  That and the answer to the question is something you have to see and find out for yourself.  If you enjoy a good comedy, don’t miss it.  The cast is great.  (The language a bit racy,) 

            Damaged Furniture plays Saturday nights at 8 PM, and continues through May 26, at the Whitefire Theatre, 13500 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks.  For tickets, go online at damagedfurniturebrownpapertickets.com, or call (800) 838-3006.

  

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