Directing · Farce · 2026
Lend Me
a Tenor
A play by Ken Ludwig
La Bête Productions
Immersive Staging
Directing · Farce · 2026
A play by Ken Ludwig
Production Concept
The central directorial challenge of any farce is the door. Every entrance, every exit, every near-miss depends on the audience's absolute belief in the physical world of the play. For this production, Blake took that logic to its conclusion: the entire Woodlawn Pointe black box became the hotel suite.
Audiences entered the theater through the doors of the Cleveland Majestic Hotel — not through a lobby into a theater, but directly into the world of the play. The set extended well into the audience seating area. They were not watching guests arrive at the hotel. They were sitting in it.
This immersive environment — designed by Peter J. Photos — meant that every mistaken identity, every slammed door, every desperate disguise happened within arm's reach. The chaos was not onstage. It was in the room.
"They're going to feel they're in on the experience the moment they walk into the building."
The Story
Cleveland, 1934. The world's greatest tenor — the legendary Tito Merelli — has arrived for a one-night gala performance of Otello. But a domestic catastrophe leaves him incapacitated just hours before curtain, and desperate opera director Saunders has only one solution: get his mild-mannered assistant Max into a costume and hope nobody notices.
Somebody notices. Everybody notices. And everyone has a reason to pretend they don't. Ken Ludwig's farce builds from mistaken identity to full operatic pandemonium — a precision machine of slammed doors, romantic entanglements, and increasingly elaborate deceptions.
Packed with physical comedy, rapid-fire entrances and exits, and larger-than-life characters — a classic comedy about ambition, ego, and the thin line between disaster and triumph.
Director's Statement
"This has always been one of my favorite comedies. A revival of Ken Ludwig's work is overdue in San Antonio."
Farce is the most democratic of theatrical forms — it asks nothing of its audience except the willingness to surrender to chaos. But backstage, it demands everything. The comedy lives or dies on precision: a door opened one beat too late, a look held one second too long, and the whole edifice collapses. It is, in that sense, the most rigorous directing challenge in the repertoire.
The decision to make the staging immersive was not a gimmick — it was a response to the material. Farce depends on the audience's complicity. They need to feel the stakes, to hold their breath when the wrong person is about to open the right door. Putting them inside the hotel suite made that complicity physical. There was nowhere to watch from a safe distance. They were in the room.
The result was a production that felt both classic and completely alive — which, for a play written nearly forty years ago, is exactly what a revival should be.
— Blake Hamman, Director
Production Photography
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Audience Response
"Big-hearted, expertly paced farce — smart, joyful, and unapologetically funny. The laughs are earned, the chaos is beautifully controlled, and the audience is invited along for every twist and turn. It's the kind of production that reminds you why live comedy is such a gift."
The reviewer also praised the clarity of storytelling and the generosity of the ensemble, noting it was "very exciting to see this new company flourish."
"A truly delightful production, with beautiful designs and perfectly staged madcap energy courtesy of a cast comprised of the most talented lunatics in town. Laughter really is the best medicine."
"THE FUNNIEST SHOW I'VE SEEN IN A LONG TIME. I haven't laughed out loud in a show in a while — needed that. Cast, crew, set, tech was great. La Bête Productions has really done amazing work with the Woodlawn Pointe space. Truly transformed."
"Hilarious comedy of errors. This cast, crew and creative team deserve a huge standing ovation — which they got. It's a must for the season."
"It's just a delicious coupe of champagne!"
"This show is not to be missed — seriously hilarious and so well done."
Company
Max
Davis Hayes
Lead
Maggie
Brooke Arnold
Saunders
DuWayne Greene
Tito Merelli
Ivan Ortega
Maria
Dani Andrade
Diana
Nicole Rey Phoenix
Julia
Katy Sisco
Bellhop
Jackson Gable
Noah Edwards
U/S Bellhop
Kate Edwards
U/S Maggie · U/S Julia
Jack Gray
U/S Tito · U/S Saunders
Lucy Perez
U/S Maria · U/S Diana
Creative Team
Direction
Blake Hamman
Set Design
Peter J. Photos
Lighting Design
Jorge Rebolledo
Costume Design
Blake Hamman
with Sara Brookes
Production Photography
Jessica Mewborne
Mewborne Photography
Produced By
La Bête Productions