Excelsior (Bryan Maddern) and The Remote (James Kopp) in Super Villian. Photo by Roger Mathey

The cast of Super Villain at The Empty Space Theatre. Photo by Roger Mathey

By Thomas G. Robinson, Marketing Director for The Empty Space Theatre

The cold metal walls are lit with precision, inviting the evil villainous trio back to The Empty Space, where they will make good (or bad) use of their secret lair. The Remote, Teri the Tarot Card Terrorist and Professor Gimp have returned to plan death and destruction in the name of super villainy. But wait! Look, up in the sky … Is it a bird? A plane? Is it Superman? No … it’s Excelsior and his trusty partner, Sidekick, arriving just in time to save the day!

So goes “Super Villain,” the original hit comedy written by local playwright James Kopp. This very popular show is returning to The Empty Space for a special one-weekend performance on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 5 and 6 at 8 p.m. Produced last year for its debut performance, “Super Villain” is the semi-autobiographical story of James Kopp’s very strange life, in comic book format.

Last March, the show ran for two weeks and played to packed houses at The Empty Space Theatre. Veteran actors and newcomers to the stage (comic book loving friends of Kopp) played the roles of the heroes, regular citizens and criminals. At this year’s Empty Space Awards, Kopp was awarded a record eight “Empties” for “Super Villain.” Even more amazing, all of the original actors of the show are returning to portray their roles this weekend, a feat not normal for any local production of community theatre.

When asked why he decided to bring back the show, Kopp said, “I heard that lots of people didn’t get to see it and I wanted to give them a chance. That’s the sad thing about theatre; you can’t just pop the show in like a DVD to see it again. The fact that the original cast is back makes it ideal.”

Kopp said that it’s very rare that all the actors come back and that in over 15 years of doing theater, he’s never worked with a cast that gets along so well.  “Everyone’s busy with their lives and real jobs,” he said, “but they all came back to make it work.”

Adds Guinevere Park-Hall Dethlefson, who plays Terri the Tarot Card Terrorist, “Working on a dark comedy is one of my favorite genres of theater. In life I try to find the good and humorous in the most horrible situations. Getting to do the same on stage seems very natural to me.”

She said she knew half the cast from high school and the others from The Empty Space. “Working with the cast is the best thing about the show. We can all riff on things together and have a blast creating a comic book world come to life. I love making things up and this is the best of creating something new (again),” she said.

Although this is a limited two-night run at the Empty Space, Kopp plans on producing it in Chicago where he’s received a lot of support from the local theater community.

The show stars James Kopp as The Remote, Guinevere Park-Hall Dethlefson as Terri the Tarot Card Terrorist, Bryan Maddern as Excelsior, Jenny Maddern as Kim, Rod Lester as Professor Gimp and Matthew Christensen as Sidekick.  The show also stars Michael Solko, Dallas Austin, Thor Reese and Thomas G. Robinson in supporting roles.

The Empty Space is located at 706 Oak Street (behind Pizzaville). A suggested donation of $15 is welcome, though the theater does not charge for admission. Call 327-PLAY for reservations or more information.