A new comedy by Richard Dresser

Directed by Mary Hausch

How to attain happiness is a question that has intrigued philosophers, psychologists, self-help gurus, and people everywhere for thousands of years. Books line the shelves of bookstores promising to help us get happy! What does it take increase our happiness quotient: money, love, fame, spiritual enlightenment, a high-powered job, a bigger house, more stuff or a total life makeover? Playwright Richard Dresser finds a way to spin this question into one of the "funniest plays" you have seen in years.

Jodi (company member Libby Arnold), is a rebellious teen who uses her college admission statement to rail against the tyranny of success and proclaim her freedom from her parents' ideals. Annie's (played by Hipp veteran Nell Page) happiness is obsessively connected to keeping Jodi on the right track: going to college and using her amazing potential. Annie will stop at nothing to make her…err, their dream come true including requesting special favors of an old "friend", the admissions director at her alma mater Spud (played by Kevin Rainsberger back on the Hipp stage after 18 years). Jodi on the other hand, can think of no worse fate. After all, her parents both went to college and look how they ended up! Jodi's dad, Neil (Hipp newcomer David Sitler) is drawn into the battle, but Jodi's persistent questions about happiness disrupt his complacency and send him into existential crisis and whirlwind of possibilities of how to change his life. His first change is adopting his new friend from work, Tucker, who is a cubicle rat who has never ventured far from the rat maze. Tucker is a social klutz injecting his own form of neurosis into the family's dysfunctional pursuit of happiness.

Don't miss Dresser's hilarious comedy and join in the biggest debate of the 20th (and other) Centuries. It's sure to leave you laughing while you are searching for your own definition of happiness. For times and ticketing information, click here.