ROVING REPORTER: Fable Attraction

This year’s annual Hasty Pudding Theatricals production is “Fable Attraction,” which opens on February 15th at the New College Theatre. The play features all the best elements of theatre: mythical creatures, a magical world, and cross-dressing undergrads. The Roving Reporter put on his best skirt and went to go find out more.



David J. Andersson ’09



RR: Who do you play in “Fable Attraction”?

DA: I play the sexy unicorn. Her name is Peggy Seuss, but she’s not a Pegasus. She makes that very clear. She has been described as all glitter and tits.

RR: Alright, so complete this sentence: David Andersson is all blank and blank.

DA: In relation to what?

RR: Anything.

DA: I mean you could say I’m all fun and fabulousness. Um, I don’t know.

RR: That works. So, how long have you been doing Hasty Pudding stuff?

DA: This is my third year, and it’s my third year playing a girl, and probably next year I’ll play a girl again. I have nice legs for it.

RR: What’s the funniest line you have in the play?

DA: Well, I don’t want to give too much away, but I’m talking to the villainess. And she says that when she takes over the kingdom she’s gonna take over all the creatures in it. And I say that she’s gonna have to fight the president of the goblins, Drew Goblin Faust.

RR: Nice. Are there any other jabs at Harvard officials?

DA: We always try to incorporate a lot of Harvard humor. We poke jabs at some of the a cappella groups and –

RR: What do you have against a cappella groups?

DA: Ah, you know, just friendly humor.



Cliff N. Murray ’10



RR: Who do you play in “Fable Attraction”?

CM: I play Oldielocks, who is an older than middle-aged woman who runs an orphanage in a big shoe. She’s pretty crazy. She’s sexually frustrated, slightly, and she also is just cranky in general.

RR: Are there any people who inspire you for this role? Any old, mean ladies?

CM: It’s kind of a combination of Karen from “Will & Grace” and Roseanne, Carol Channing, combined. It’s pretty grotesque.

RR: Is this your first year doing the Pudding show?

CM: It’s actually my first year doing theatrics at Harvard.

RR: Is this the first time you’ve been dressed up in women’s clothes?

CM: Actually, it’s not. As a fourth grader, I dressed up as Lucille Ball in a performance I was doing at my school, but it’s been a number of years since I had a dress on. But it feels just like home.

RR: Really? You think you could get used to it?

CM: I don’t think I could get used to it, but it certainly is a fun hour and a half or two hours of dress up. And there’s a lot more air circulation in a dress so when you’re under stage lights it’s much more helpful. Keeps everything cool.



Kathleen H. Chen ’09



RR: What’s your role in “Fable Attraction”?

KC: I was a co-writer, and I also do the props.

RR: Where did you get the idea for the play’s plot?

KC: The plot sort of changed a lot as we went. This is nowhere near our original plot. I think some elements are the same, but I honestly don’t even remember what the original plot was.

RR: Were you and Brian a pretty good playwriting duo?

KC: Yeah, I think we sort of fed off each other a lot. He has a certain type of humor, and I have a certain type.

RR: Would you say you were the Affleck or Damon of the duo?

KC: Damon! Yeah, duh. We had a lot of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon jokes actually. There’s actually a Ben Affleck joke in the show.

RR: So, Brian has a role in the cast. You didn’t want one?

KC: Um…

RR: Oh, yeah, it’s an all-guy cast. I didn’t remember that. Wow, I’m an idiot.

KC: Haha, I mean, I could go through some stuff, and then maybe things would be a little different. But that’s a lot of money.



W. Brian C. Polk ’09



RR: What’s your role in “Fable Attraction”?

BP: I play a magic mirror name Mira-Mira Ondeewall. She’s been around for a very long time, and basically she looks like a disco ball. She’s really shiny and funny and from the 70s.

RR: Didn’t you write the play also?

BP: Yeah, I’m the co-author. Kathleen Chen and I, we wrote the script, and then we chose a composer, and then we basically rewrote the whole thing up until yesterday. It’s a continual process. There’s no set script. We’re constantly improving it to make it funnier and faster, better, stronger, etc.

RR: Have you acted before at Harvard, or did you write this script just so you could write yourself in?

BP: It’s really hard to write a character for yourself, especially in the Pudding. I had been in the cast the year before and so for this year’s I had conceived the characters and done voices for some of them in order to conceive of them better, but you can’t really write a part for yourself. It’s too hard to do that.

RR: In ten words or less: the plot of Fable Attraction.

BP: Um, ok, here we go. Wooden boy finds dad. Asian communist barkeep. Hilarity ensues.

RR: Before your involvement in the Pudding, did you have any experience wearing high heels or other women’s clothing?

BP: No, absolutely not. In high school, I played an obese southern girl in a play, which was really fun, but that was it. I wore my mom’s clothes. You get used to the heels though. The heels are so much easier this year than last year.