Uncle Toots is a grotesque, queer Archie Bunker-type crossed with Vicki Lawrence’s “Mama." Toots first appeared in an improvised YouTube video in 2011. His web presence continues to this day through 2020's UNCLE TOOTS & AUNT BARB series. Toots has made his way into fringe festivals, theatrical productions, sketches, and podcasts.
Uncle Toots’ Pasta Dish
produced by Ray Caspio & Kevenn T. Smith at the 2020 BorderLight International Theatre & Fringe Festival
created by Ray Caspio
with performer-creators Ryan Lucas, Cassie Neumann Lucas & Lauren B. Smith
special appearances by Davis Aguila, Lauren Joy Fraley & Amy Schwabauer
SOLD OUT the entire run!
Uncle Toots wants one last pasta dinner in the home he’s about to lose, but more than sauce is stirred up and served when his family and longtime hospice nurse ambush him about a 60 year relationship he packed away. With you, Toots’ wide-eyed sister, Aunt Barb, multiple-war veteran, Rocky, and Obamacare’s Nurse Nancy at the dining room table, a tale of lost love awakens this contentious family to realities they’ve never faced before. Uncle Toots’ Pasta Dish is an improvised experience you help bring to life even if you decide to just shut up and eat!
clothing consultant Kevenn T. Smith
pasta by Marilu Mercadante
photos by Steve Wagner
Toots’ personal attorneys, Sally & Sal Incesta, Esq., M.D., appeared on Toots’ always-on TV during the meal.
written by Ray Caspio & Ryan Lucas
directed by Ray Caspio
starring Amy Schwabauer
filmed by Ryan Lucas with Lauren B. Smith
edited by Ryan Lucas
Thank you to our GoFundMe supporters for making Pasta Dish happen!
$25-$49
David Hansen
Anne McEvoy
Judith Ross
Frances Smith
$50-$99
Mark Dembroski
Benjamin Gregg
Pandora Robertson
$100-$199
Cindy Tilocco Riley
$200+
Anonymous
Sunday Dinner with Toots
produced by Ray Caspio & Kevenn T. Smith
created by Ray Caspio
with performer-creators Benjamin Gregorio, Cassie Neumann Lucas & Lauren B. Smith
Sunday Dinner with Toots invites audiences to join the eccentric Uncle Toots and his adversarial family around his dining room table with the promise of homemade food, camaraderie and conversation. Inspired by interviews with first and second generation Italian-Americans who grew up on Cleveland's East Side in the 1930s through 1950s, Toots is a hilarious, improvised, interactive exploration of how living characters coexist with diverse people while dealing with alcoholism, cancer, love lost and found and lost again, the loss of a child, aging in America, and America’s health care industry. Audiences are spurred into thinking about themselves and the people in their lives in new ways, such as discovering compassion for adversarial relationships and igniting curiosity about the differing stances of those whom they encounter in life.
clothing consultant Kevenn T. Smith
performance space donated by Cleveland Opera Theater
Developed as part of the LAUNCH performance creation residency program of the Community Engagement & Education Department at Playhouse Square, Cleveland, Ohio.
partially supported by the 2016 Creative Workforce Fellowship
photos by Frank Gallo
February 2017
Uncle Toots’ Parlor
created by Ray Caspio
starring Davis Aguila, Ray Caspio, Nick Earl, Ryan Lucas & Cassie Neumann Lucas
Uncle Toots’ good friend, Rocky, is a contestant on tomorrow’s episode of President Trump’s new hit game show, “Presidential Firing Squad!" Rocky, a World War II vet, thought he was in the right killing Nazis during the war, but times have changed and now he’s going in front of the firing squad for crimes against the USA! So come on over to Toots’ in celebration of Rocky’s final hours!
produced by Ray Caspio & Kevenn T. Smith
performed at Cleveland Public Theatre’s Pandemonium 2017
clothing consultant & makeup design by Kevenn S. Smith
installation space by Ray Caspio & Beth Wood
