Comedy troupe coming
to Kents Hill School
on Friday, Sept. 16

Mark Eaton speaks rapidly, his words flowing in an organized torrent. He has thoughts and ideas to convey, and he’s got a lot going on.

A longtime writer for Capitol Steps, a comedy troupe that performs current-event satire, Eaton is used to conveying information quickly.

“You know, there can be something that we might put in the show in a day or two,” he said. “It can be that fast. It can be that evening, you know, if something really huge breaks.”

This kind of turnaround is impressive, especially considering that the troupe of nearly 30 performers, writers and pianists, is split into as many as four groups touring around the country at a time.

On Friday, Sept. 16, at 8 p.m., one of those troupes will perform at Kents Hill School, Kents Hill, in the Bodham Performing Arts Center. The event is s benefit for the Aleigh Mills Schoolarship Fund.

Capitol Steps was formed in 1981 by a group of Senate staffers who were planning entertainment for a Christmas party. As they like to say, they’d hoped to put on a nativity play, but “in the whole Congress, we couldn’t find three wise men or a virgin!”

Instead, they mined the wealth of mockworthy political situations of the day, and put on a show full of song parodies and skits. The performance was a hit and the troupe was formed.

Eaton joined Capitol Steps full time in 1999, after having worked with them part time since 1993.

He co-writes the show with Elaina Newport, one of the the group’s founding members. Besides having an enduring popularity with the public, due in large part to its constantly relevant material, the group itself enjoys a low turnover.

“Most of the people have been in the group at least 15 years or so, maybe more,” Eaton said. “Fifteen to 20 years is probably the average.” 

“People get in with us and, you know, it beats getting a real job,” he said. “It’s wonderful!”

Cast members thrive on the fast-paced, constantly moving routine. Between tours, troupe members are shuffled so that no group is ever the same, new pieces are introduced as new headlines arise, and, while a general consistency from group to group is encouraged, there is much freedom in the lack of detailed direction for members to perform their roles as they choose. Keeping the cast on their toes keeps their energy up and keeps them interested.

It helps that the subject matter is engaging.

Regarding this election year, Eaton said, “There’s certainly more comedy on both sides than we’ve ever seen, and the only problem is trying to be funnier than the actual campaign sometimes. … We’re in a wonderful business where we’ve had people say, ‘Oh, boy, it’s never going to get better than this!'”

But it does keep getting better and better, and, as Eaton points out, “The good thing going into this election is whoever does win is a very target-rich person and it’s going to be a good, fun environment for political comedy for a while.”

Eaton said it’s never a struggle to keep personal politics from influencing the show.

“We’re happy to let loose on everybody,” he said. “If they do something that’s mockworthy, we would certainly want to pipe up. This era is good, obviously, because both sides are being equally goofy.”

While there have been circumstances in the past that led to feeling like the show was a bit one-sided, such as “When we were in the Bush era, with Bush having the House and Senate and everything, I mean, Democrats just kind of laid low. … At times, it felt like we were ganging up on them a little bit.”

But the Capitol Steps writers consider themselves “equal opportunity offenders” and look for a good joke, wherever it may be found.

As for negative responses from their subjects, Eaton said, “Most of the people we deal with are politicians and the only bad press is if you spell their name wrong or mispronounce it, so if they make it into our show, they kind of think it’s a pretty cool deal.

There was one exception: “We did have one time, Bob Dole was at one of our shows, when he was doing his commercials for Viagra. One of our guys asked if he would mind if we would do our song, and he was not very happy about it.”

“We left it out for that night,” Eaton said.

The Capitol Steps will perform Sept. 16 at Kents Hill School in Kents Hill. For tickets, visit www.kentshill.org/concerts or call 207-685- 1635.

They will perform Sept. 17 at the Collins Center at the University of Maine. For tickets, go to www.collinscenterforthearts.com/event/935.

IF YOU GO

Who: Capitol Steps comedy troupe

When: Friday, Sept 16, 8 p.m.

Where: Kent’s Hill School

Tickets: $57 for general admission and $75 for VIP seating (first three rows). There is a $3 surcharge for all credit card orders. Call 207-685-1635 or go to www.kentshill.org/concerts to purchase tickets.