December 13, 2010

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Break out your team colors when UAB's Alys Stephens Center presents "The Complete World of Sports (Abridged) Comedy Show" by Reduced Shakespeare Company, with shows at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 14, 2011, and at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011, in the center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Sport your own favorite team's jersey to this show to win a prize. Tickets are $45, $38, $28; $20 student tickets. Call 205-975-2787 or go to www.AlysStephens.org.

Reduced Shakespeare Company, the "Bad Boys of Abridgment," unveil a brand-new show: "The Complete World of Sports (abridged)," which reduces every sport ever played in the entire history of the world, according to the troupe's description. From the earliest cavemen playing "Neanderthal in the Middle" to kids' soccer practice, the entire history of athletic competition will be blasted in a tour de force of funny, physical theater. A marathon of madness and mayhem will ensue as the world's greatest sporting events are shrunk down to size; it's interactive, family friendly fun for all ages. A merciless but affectionate satire of an ESPN-type broadcast that "owes as much to the insanity of Monty Python as to the inanity of actual sports programs," says The Boston Globe.

Since its 1981 origins as a pass-the-hat act in California, the Reduced Shakespeare Company has created seven stage shows, two television specials and many radio pieces which have been performed, seen and heard the world over, according to their Web site. The company's itinerary has included stops at the White House, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, London's West End, Seattle Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theatre and Montreal's Just for Laughs Festival, plus live performances around the world. The company is well known for its shows "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)," "The Complete History of America (abridged)" and "The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged)."

This show is sponsored by The Birmingham News, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Viva Health, Dixon Hughes and Regions Bank.

About UAB's Alys Stephens Center

The Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, part of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is one of the Southeast's premier performing arts centers, presenting the world's best artists in music, dance, theatre, comedy, film, and family entertainment. The ASC's mission is to be a place where the entire community experiences and engages in the arts. The ASC is home to ArtPlay, a new arts education center, as well as UAB departments of Theatre and Music and the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.