Inventions of the Idiot (dramatic reading)

In which a gentleman known only as The Idiot decides to improve civilization through invention. Living in Mrs. Smithers-Pedagog's High-class Home for Single Gentlemen, he turns his allegedly formidable mind to problems the barbarians have covered (missionaries handle those) and sets about revolutionizing the civilized world. The results are magnificent, disastrous, and consistently hilarious. John Kendrick Bangs, the celebrated humorist and Puck magazine editor, crafted this comic masterpiece as a affectionate send-up of earnest do-gooders and their grandiose schemes. The Idiot's inventions range from the merely impractical to the spectacularly catastrophic, all delivered with deadpan Victorian wit and a cast of exasperated household members who serve as straight men to his schemes. The dramatic reading brings this turn-of-the-century comedy to vivid life, capturing the theatrical humor that made Bangs one of America's most beloved humorists. It's a time capsule of gentler satire, when making fun of reformers meant you loved humanity enough to laugh at it.