“Exit, Pursued by a Bear” – RD Studio, NoHo
9-20-2026 Opening Night
In Shakespeare’s dark comedy, A Winter’s Tale, Antigonus is charged by the king to abandon Queen Hermione’s baby (of questionable birthright) on the shore of the Mediterranean. After he does so, Antigonus is given the most famous and, yet, most odd stage direction. He is to “Exit, pursued by a bear.” And then he is mauled to death offstage. Fun times for Billy Boy’s comedies.
Clever playwright Lauren Gunderson utilizes the directive and builds a very funny, engaging, and thought-provoking one-act. While Antigonus was to receive the ire of the fates for such a dastardly act, our Antigonus, Kyle, receives the full and thorough force of his wife, Nan’s, hostility.
CLANG!
A boxing bell signals the scene breaks as each ringing tees up another round of the constant fighting that Nan and Kyle live with.
“You have hit me for the last time.” Nan has had it, and after teaming up with flamboyantly gay Simon and her bestie, Sweetheart, they concoct a truly gruesome end for her soon-to-be ex. A redneck with a side of redneck, Kyle is played masterfully by P.J. King (And you’ll know that voice from the narrator of Bar Rescue). Kyle has normalized his violence so completely that he even seems unable to comprehend its effect on Nan. But Kyle is a charmer, and his sweet-talking is what almost saves his hide, several times. P.J.’s perfect backwoods Georgia drawl is straight off of Stone Mountain.
CLANG!
Nan, played by Corinne Shor with warmth and firmness, is a woman whose face bore the brunt of Kyle’s final smack. In a series of flashbacks and replays of scenes by Nan and Sweetheart as Kyle, their prosecution lays out its case as Kyle is tried for abuse in the first degree, all while he is duct-taped to the family’s easy chair.
CLANG!
Nan is backed up by her partner-in-crime, Sweetheart, played with perfect Southern dialect by Jessica Lee Risco. Thelma and Louise should take notes as they act out Kyle’s malfeasance in front of him, blow-by-blow.
CLANG!
Showstopping in his Georgia Bulldog cheerleader outfit is Russell Kohlman as Simon. He is Nan’s fiercely loyal gay friend who has been trying to get her to ditch Kyle for eons. She relies on Simon because he will always tell her the truth. Simon is almost angrier than Nan at Kyle. He waves his maroon-and-white pom-poms in Kyle’s face every chance he gets. And he also sashays around the stage twerking and pumping to assert more bottled-up masculinity than even Kyle may possess. It’s a good thing that duct tape is unbreakable.
Kyle does eventually see a glimmer of light in his redneck way. In many ways he bears a lot of resemblance to Lennie in Of Mice and Men. Simple-minded, he has powerful strength and has trouble with complex ideas. King somehow makes a dangerous brute momentarily sympathetic without excusing him. A brute with a heart, a 30.06 deer rifle and a Budweiser. Although we never see him in full redneck mode because he is, after all, duct-taped to the chair. P.J. King plays Kyle’s limited understanding so well, but he also has a heartfelt moment as he and Nan reminisce about the day they fell for each other. You almost wanted them to make up.
But Simon wouldn’t let that happen. There is always one person at the intervention who constantly reminds everyone about the truly bad things that have happened. Simon never lets Nan forget, even when the charm appears.
What Gunderson manages, beneath all the outrageousness, is an uneasy balancing act. We laugh at Kyle, occasionally feel for him, and then are reminded why Nan put him in the chair in the first place.
CLANG!
And those gruesome things they have planned? Well, they involve lots of honey and raw venison to lure the savage beast to Kyle’s duct-taped ass.
Does a bear appear? Does he go all Revenant on Kyle? Do Nan, Sweetheart, and Simon ride off into the sunset?
Well, you’ll have to find out for yourself at the RD Studio, 5508 Cahuenga Blvd. NoHo, with their final performance on October 11, 2026.
The day frowns more and more: thou’rt like to have
A lullaby too rough: I never saw
The heavens so dim by day. A savage clamour!
Well may I get aboard! This is the chase:
I am gone for ever.
(Exit, pursued by a bear)
The Winter’s Tale Act 3, Scene iii