During times likes these, when money is tight and people want to escape, many community theaters find themselves staging safe, middle-of-the-road shows to safeguard against a show failing to find an audience.



Prodigal Sun is a little different in that manner. Sure, it wants a show to succeed since it operates on a shoestring budget like most other theaters — it just doesn’t have the shoes either. It has little more than its fan base and word of mouth to fill the seats and pay the bills.



It stages shows that are a bit ... quirky. And I love the theater for that.



This dedicated band of thespians is now staging Joe Orton’s Loot, a play about the masks people wear as they try to remove those masks of others.



The parody is directed by Tom Sanders, who has a solid cast that includes:  James Holmes as Dennis, Matthew Green as Meadows, Malcolm Sturdevant as Hal, Chris Cantrell as Truscott, Mark Matthies as McLeavy, Michelle Guarayana as Fay.



The show spares its barbs for no one as it lands some tough criticism on the government, religion and people in general as it follows the story of a gaggle of thieves that opts to hide their ill-gotten gain in the coffin of a dead woman.



“I still believe Orton is the best playwright no one has ever heard of,” Sanders writes in his notes. “If Orton wasn’t murdered after finishing his third full-length play, I believe he would be one of the most famous playwrights of the last half of the 20th century. He challenged beliefs of religion, royalty, social and sexual attitudes and made you laugh at it on the way.”

Also on stage

I would seriously be neglectful of my theater duties if I did not mention that Tacoma Musical Playhouse is set to open the stage version of The Producers, the Mel Brooks musical about a musical so terrible it is great and becomes a major theater success. This show will likely sell out quickly, so tickets should be purchased sooner rather than later.



[The Midnight Sun Performance Space, Loot, April 23-25, 8 p.m., $12, 113 Columbia St., N.W., Olympia, 360.250.2721]



[Tacoma Musical Playhouse, The Producers, through May 17, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, $18-$25, 7116 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.565.6867]